


don't ever leave that girl so cold, never let me down, just lead me home

by webbythyme



Series: soulmate arrowverse [4]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternative Universe - No Island, Bobby Queen - Freeform, Cute, F/M, Nora is just a sweetheart, Past Lives, Soulmate AU, and mention of the show events, but an idiot, olicity are soulmates, oliver and felicity son is an idiot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:00:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24168484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/webbythyme/pseuds/webbythyme
Summary: Bobby Queen was the product of a set of soulmates who had lived hundreds of lives. It puts pressure on the whole 'soulmate' thing. So he dates and doesn't deal with the consequences. But now, Nora West-Allen is walking around with his soulmark and he should have listened to his mother when she told him to be careful. Because now he has to figure out how to deal with having a West Allen being his soulmate and it is not the West Allen he is currently dating.PS: You don't really need to read the other parts, but it will give you some background on this version of Oliver and Felicity.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West, Connor Hawke/Mia Smoak, John Diggle/Lyla Michaels, Laurel Lance/Tommy Merlyn, Nora West-Allen/Original Character(s), Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak, Roy Harper/Thea Queen, William Clayton/Original Character
Series: soulmate arrowverse [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1735513
Comments: 9
Kudos: 51





	don't ever leave that girl so cold, never let me down, just lead me home

**Author's Note:**

> Oh yes, this is happening. Somehow, I have completely fallen in love with Bobby Queen and I wish he was real. But also, this is just part one of the next generation set of soulmate stories. I also have some other ideas for the other kids.

_I could have showed you all the scars at the start but that was always the most difficult part_

Bobby Queen didn’t think much about soulmates. Sure, they were all around him, his parents, his siblings, his aunts and uncles-- they were always there shoved into his face as a reminder he didn’t have one. His parents had been bonded since they were fourteen, in love to an ad nauseum rate and it really ruined even the thought of finding his soulmate. So instead of hoping every time he touched someone, they would bloom with a mark--he just couldn’t bring himself to care. 

His older brother, Will, found his when he went off to college and his first weekend home had a peace sign on his shoulder. His sister, Mia, met her soulmate when she was only a few days old and their Uncle John brought over Connor to meet the new Queen. Connor ran a finger over Mia’s cheek and stars were placed in the direct path of his chubby toddler finger. 

But Bobby-- even though his family is known for finding their soulmates young--never did. His mom told him to be wary of dating, his dad told him once he found his soulmate to never push them away and his Uncle Tommy told him to make sure he didn’t get anyone pregnant. 

And then it happened, Dawn West Allen moved to Star City. They weren’t soulmates, but with her he quickly forgot when his mom told him not to date. His mom is a genius and had a soul of a thousand years old--when she says something Bobby should always listen. But he didn’t. 

He should have known the West Allen sisters were going to ruin him.

\--- ---- 

Bobby stared at the blank canvas, feeling absolutely no inspiration to paint this morning. He needed a few sets for his gallery for his winter show in just five months, but nothing came to my mind. 

Not one feeling that could equate into a beautiful painting. He sighs, tossing his paint brush to the table and wiping his hands on his towel. He checks his phone and knows he is already running late to have lunch with his mom at Queen Global. 

The few years after his parents got married, his dad retired after he started having troubles with his arm. He didn’t want to continue to play until he needed surgery, so instead he ended on a career high and moved back to the newly renamed Star City. His mom resumed her job at Starling Hospital and dad and Uncle Tommy merged the family companies. 

Up until that point, Queen Consolidated was only Queen in the name--his dad wanted no part, but after he didn't want to lose the one part of his parents he had so instead he was taken under the wing of Walter and flourished in the role. Uncle Tommy didn’t want the corrupt Merlyn Global so instead they came together and created an even more lucrative business with side companies including the free clinic in the Glades overseen by his mom, City Necessary Resources Initiative ran by Aunt Laurel and Verdant ran by Aunt Thea. 

The Merlyn's and Queen’s ran the city and no one seemed to really mind--crime was down, the economy was booming and all was well in Star City. As they got older, his mom started helping out in the Applied Science division (see above: Felicity Smoak Queen is a genius) and then once Will graduated from MIT, he took over. 

There was never an expectation for the Queen or Merlyn children to work at Queen Global, it just seemed a few of the children had a knack for business. 

Not Bobby, he wanted no part. He opened his art gallery with his own money from selling his paintings and showcased young artists every quarter along with his own work. He was always welcome at the sky scraper though he made sure to not stay long enough for his brother to try to wrangle him in.

And right now, he was late. He didn’t care that his white shirt had paint spots on it or his loose jeans were covered from repetitive motions of wiping his hands on them and being covered in thinner, paint, and really any medium he was using.

His name was on the fucking building, the stuffy losers could go fuck themselves for as much as he cared. 

“If it isn’t my favorite baby cousin,” He hears Dinah as he makes it through the revolving door, but Bobby had his eyes set on making it to lunch.

“Running late, Di.” He says as he moves past her, her arms full of files and notebooks, “I will come by on my way out.”

She shrugged uncaringly but still her eyes showed she didn’t like being brushed off, Dinah Merlyn having the blase attitude of her father with the stubbornness of her mother. She was quite the mixture of Tommy and Laurel and the epitome of an only child. 

He made it to the elevator, up the four floors to applied sciences and was texting Dawn as the elevator dinged. 

He was paying no attention as he slammed into a body, papers going everywhere.

“Fuck,” It was a complete reflex to steady the person he ran into, his arm reaching around their waist and not caring about the papers.

He looked down through his square glasses, “Sorry, Nora.”

She was--as per usual-- jittery and skittish like she had seven cups of coffee by eight AM and turned in his arms to get out of his grasp. Nora was his girlfriend’s little sister. She had completed her first year of college this past May before she decided to take a semester off. 

Her mom told her if she was taking a semester off she had to get a job--and why wouldn’t she work under the watchful eyes of close family friends. 

Even if they hadn’t seen the West Allens in years. He hadn’t seen Nora since she was like fourteen before she started working at Queen Global.

He kneels down to help gather her things when he sees it, on his palm clear as day-- a lightning bolt.

Fuck.

Fuck.

_Fuck._

“No worries, Bobby. Just stare at me while I pick up my things.” She mumbles, Bobby still frozen, “It’s my hair cut, isn’t it?”

“Uh--uh” He clears his throat, finally pulls out of the stupor and picks up the last two papers, “Here.” He doesn’t add that he did notice she had gotten her hair cut into a stylish bob and it looked nice.

“Nice lightning bolt,” She comments as she takes the papers from him, “Tattoo?”

He shakes his head, and Nora tilts her own to the side. “You met your soulmate?”

Bobby--for the first time in his life--is without words. He just stares at her trying to understand how his soulmate can be his girlfriend’s little sister who he has spoken maybe five words to in his whole life.

“Does Dawn know?” Her hyperness was building, and she grabs his hand, pulling it close to her and he can feel her breath on his palm, and it causes a weird feeling in his chest and the hot air definitely does something to his dick. This is not good.. “I wonder why a lightning bolt.”

“I can think of a few reasons,” He mumbles and she looks up at him. Her brown eyes flecked with gold, her speeding personality, the way her touch was igniting electric currents underneath his skin. He knew exactly why he had a lighting bolt. 

“Are you gonna tell my sister?” She asks seriously. 

“I’m still trying to figure out how to tell you,” It all but falls out of his mouth and he blames solely his mother for it. 

“Why would you need to tell me?” Her eyebrows are furrowed, her lips in a pout and he is starting to almost panic at the fall out. 

“Get there faster, Nora.” He snaps and his frustration does it. Clarity fills her brown eyes and she gasps. 

They really shouldn’t be doing this in front of an elevator. 

“No, no, no,” She looks around and back at him and lifts a finger , “No.” 

He glares at her like he wanted this to happen. She drops his hand like it is burning him and takes a step away from him, “This--didn’t happen.”

“Deal,” He nods, wanting nothing more than to forget this conversation. 

“Don’t tell her, Bobby.” It’s the first time he has ever seen Nora anything other than bubbly and going a mile a minute. She is subdued, worried and quiet--it wasn’t a good look on her.

“I’m not trying to ruin my relationship, so no worries.”

She nods, and he doesn’t admit that his mark burned at his words. He just walks away without letting her continue to prattle on. This didn’t have to mean anything. A lot of soulmates weren’t romantically involved with no issues. 

But why did his mark hurt so bad?

\----- ---- 

He doesn’t tell his mom and dad or his siblings or anyone. When Dawn sees the mark, he brushes it off with the first thing Nora said--he got a tattoo. He just had to hope it didn’t turn red or fade or grow like his parents did. His parents were a whole different level of soulmates and so he was probably safe as long as he didn’t go and bond with her.

Will and his soulmate-- Luis hadn’t bonded and they were married with two kids.

But then Mia and Connor bonded at fifteen randomly after they got into a fight.

So there was still a chance that even if he doesn’t pursue this with Nora, they could bond. 

It’s awkward with Dawn, like he hasn’t been dating her for a year and he hasn’t seen her naked. He felt bored, wanting to be away from her whenever she came near and ended their dates with a peck on the cheek. 

He knew it was the mark and he wanted to take a palate knife and skin himself. It was nauseating the amount of times he found himself roaming his family’s business just to see Nora shuffling around. 

He never did because she avoided him. The one time he might have seen her, he was in his brother’s office and heard a legitimate yelp and by the time he looked over his shoulder she was already running away.

“What did you do to Nora?” William asks, not looking away from his computer while Bobby tosses a tennis ball into the air. 

“Nothing,” He shrugs, trying his best to be nonchalant and to not follow her around. 

He really fucking wanted to. 

“You sure? Because she has walked past my office four times since you came in,” Will teases.

Bobby turns in the chair, and sure enough Nora is speed walking past his brother’s office with a file held in front of her face. He can’t stop chuckling at her theatrics.

“She probably has a question about Dawn’s birthday,” Bobby lies, standing up and tossing the tennis ball at William who is paying no attention and doesn’t have time to react before it hits his face.

“Ass,” William mutters and Bobby laughs as he walks out of the office. 

He sees her through the desks, maneuvering around with the grace of a baby gazelle. In the short walk to the bathroom, she trips over the air twice, looking around making sure no one noticed. But Bobby did and he rolled his eyes each time. 

How were she and Dawn related? Dawn had the grace of a dancer, gliding around in his tall heels and demanding attention in any room she walked in. Nora didn’t want anyone to notice her, she wanted to stay invisible and yet she was the only person Bobby could concentrate on.

Bobby effortlessly glides into the bathroom, hands in his pockets and smirks when he makes her jump, soap flying off her hands and the foam sticking to her hair.

“My brother noticed you stalking his office,” He leans against the counter and she glares at him, the soap starting to disintegrate into her dark brown hair. She is wearing bright pink slack capris, a striped green and white shirt tucked in and a grey cardigan. It shouldn’t go together and it should look ridiculous, but he can only admire what the colors would like on a canvas.

“I wasn’t stalking,” She huffs, “I just had a lot of things to drop off to desks and I also needed to drop stuff off to William and so I was just seeing if he still had a guest,” She rambles, never taking a pause, or a breath and Bobby blinks.

Jesus, she is a lot.

“And last time I checked, this is the ladies restroom,” She pauses finally, and her cheeks turn pink, “I am in the right restroom, right?”

Bobby’s lips turn up and he nods. “Do you go into the wrong bathroom a lot, Nora?”

She shrugs, “Sometimes they aren’t clear. That isn’t my fault.”

He laughs now and he wonders if he always would have found her this endearing or if it is because of the mark on his palm that tended to burn anytime he kissed Dawn to the point he stopped initiating it.

“But it is the ladies room so you really shouldn’t be in here,” She scolds him moving around him to dry her hands and he notices each finger nail is painted a different color and bit to oblivion. 

“My name is on the side of the building. I think I can really go anywhere I want,” He folds his arms over his chest and feels a boost in his ego when instead of leaving, Nora just walks back over and stands in front of him, her white flats falling apart at the seams.

He wasn’t sure why he followed her in here. It was out of character of him and much more Mia’s style, but Nora avoided him so expertly and he couldn’t help himself to just have a few more minutes with her to understand why his soul chose her and to hope he gets just as annoyed with her as he did Dawn.

“I don’t think that is true.”

The door opens and a middle-aged woman who has worked for the company for only a few months steps in. She gasps at Bobby standing there and gives him a once over--most likely trying to decipher how the guy who perpetually is covered in paint stains and shaggy hair could ever be a Queen.

So he smiles to remind her just how much of his father he was.

“Martha, nice to see you,” He charms her just by saying her name, “If you could just give us a few moments.”

She nods with an open mouth, “Of course, Mr. Queen.”

Martha scurries out of the bathroom and he turns back to Nora with a triumphant grin.

“Why am I not surprised?” She rolls her eyes but it doesn’t have the precision, the frost behind it like Dawn’s did. Dawn was a master of making you know with an eye roll that she was not impressed.

Dawn didn’t like people to see the soft side of her, the kind side that Nora so easily emitted. They were so opposite and yet both so easy to befriend, to care about. 

“Is there a reason you followed me into the bathroom, Mr. Queen?” She teases and oh fuck if it didn’t do something to him.

He was treading into dangerous territory with her and this was the second conversation they had ever had with each other. He could only imagine how quick he would fall into her charm if he let himself. Dawn’s face plays on a loop in his mind and it kills him when he slips and tells himself Nora would never forgive him if he did something when he was still with Dawn.

“I think we could be friends,” He shrugs even though he knows that isn’t true. His dick is laughing at him for the thought alone. 

She breathes through her lips and they make a smacking sound, “Yeah, okay.”

“Oh come on, Sweets.” He rolls his eyes, the nickname rolling off his tongue and he doesn’t know where it came from. Maybe it is because she is the epitome of sweet and he wanted nothing more than to see if her taste matches the personality, “There is nothing that says we can’t be.”

“But there is a _someone_ and she is my favorite person in the world, the universe and she _loves_ you.” She glares at him like she shouldn’t have to remind him, but his mind has gotten a little cloudy in Nora’s presence and he couldn’t understand how this can happen so fast.

He opens his mouth, but what does he say? 

He knows Dawn loves him and she tells him daily. She doesn’t turn sad when he nods, when he doesn’t say it back because she doesn’t expect it from him. He always thought he would get there and the first time Dawn said it, she patted his cheek and told him to give it time.

Bobby now realizes what held him back and he hates his soul a little bit more for it.

“I need to get back to work,” Nora says softly, her chin down as she leaves him alone.

* * *

_how long can you wait for the one you deserve?_

If you think for one second that Nora West Allen wasn’t slightly elated to learn Robert Thomas Queen was her soulmate, you’re an idiot. Because Bobby Queen is beautiful and charming and if it wasn’t the fact he dated her sister and would never see Nora as anything but an obstacle, Nora probably would have jumped him in the bathroom.

And all she wanted to do was tell someone about the way her back ignited when he touched her, how she ran to the bathroom after she saw his mark and was in awe of the beauty of her watercolor covered back-- a blend of pastel colors against her skin that almost moved like waves. But then she realized the only person she wanted to talk to about it was the one person she couldn’t.

So instead, she took the bitter pill that once again, not even her soulmate looked at her first instead of Dawn.

She loves Dawn and wasn’t lying to Bobby when she told him that she loved Dawn more than anything in this world, but she also lived in Dawn’s shadow and was starting to get cold. She wanted something that was just hers, something that didn’t have Dawn’s smudged fingerprints on it. She thought it would be her soulmate, but it turns out the universe has a sick sense of humor.

So she let it go, she told herself having a soulmate didn’t matter and if anything if it came to it, all he would be was a friend. But every time she saw him, with messy shoulder length hair that always is falling out of the bun, or his stained shirts and looking nothing like the Queen he was supposed to be, she wanted him a little more. 

They only spoke a few times when it couldn’t be helped like when Dawn was near or one of his siblings who wouldn’t understand why they clammed up around each other. He instinctively pocketed his hand every time she was around, like somehow everyone would piece together a Queen and West Allen were soulmates and it wasn’t the right West Allen.

But her facade of not wanting to be near him, his facade of loving Dawn began to unravel and it seemed neither cared enough to tie it back together. 

There were times where the universe and their souls worked against them and they would seek each other out, and she always did her best to turn on her foot and go the other way. But the day in the park, she couldn’t scamper away fast enough and then he was there and she didn’t want him to leave.

“What are you doing here?” She asks, guarded. She tries not to think about how cute he looks with his hair in a samurai bun and sans glasses. 

He walks through the grass to her where she was at the start of the trails, “It is a park, Sweets. I’m not exactly trespassing,” He was teasing her and she hated the way she leaned closer to him. “What are you doing here? It’s five in the morning.”

“A girl can’t walk in the early hours of the day?” She raises a brow and crosses her arms. 

He breathes through his teeth, “Not why I am worried.”

“Then why are you?”

“Cause knowing you, all I can imagine is you tripping over a rock and breaking a leg and then you complaining about it for six weeks,” She rolls her eyes at his dramatics, spins on her pink shoe and starts through the wooded trails. 

“I don’t trip that—” She is cut off as she stumbles over a twig, “much.”

Bobby laughs loudly and falls in step beside her, “You can pretend I’m not even here.”

They walk in a comfortable silence through the quiet woods. Every so often, she would pause when she heard a rustling beside them and would mutter about wild squirrels and apologizing to the animals for being in their space. 

But soon, without her realizing just how easy it is, they began to talk. And not about silly stuff with the scent of soulmates lingering in the air. But about her life, his and everything in between. 

“Why’d you leave school?” He asks as they hit mile two. 

She cuts her eyes at him and shrugs as she tiptoes over a muddy spot liking the squelch beneath her shoes, “Because I have no idea what I want to do with my life and school was making it worse. And so I thought I could try something else,”

“How’s that working out for ya?”

“Terrible, because I got stuck around the person I was trying to separate myself from,” She sighs and hates herself for bringing up her sister and his girlfriend. 

“I thought she was your _favorite.”_ He almost sounds bitter, like it’s her fault he is dating Dawn and she was not the soulmate.

This is the exact reason she never dated anyone and only kissed once during truth or dare. Because this is what happens--you think you can ignore the soulmark and the soulmate and then you find them and you have to break it to your significant other. Why would she want to put someone through that kind of pain?

She lifts a hand to push a branch out of her way, “She is, but I just want to be myself and so something that is just me. Not part mom or dad or Dawn. Just me. 

But it doesn’t matter because I can’t find anything. I don’t have any skills.” 

He scoffs, “That’s a lie. Everyone has skills.”

“Not everyone is an art prodigy. I barely can color in the lines,” She pouts and he smiles at her. 

“Writing?” He offers and she shakes her head.

“I rival Ginny Weasley in that department,” He rolls his pretty green eyes and continues on. He prattles on about creative skills, about learning history, anything that could equate to a skill and Nora felt no urges to agree. 

“You’re good at science,” He moves his hand through the air, the lightning bolt on full display. 

She catches herself staring at it quite a bit, she always felt like it was taunting her. Reminding her that his soul might be hers, but his heart wasn’t even up for auction. 

“I guess. But I don’t know what to do with that. I don’t want to go into health care or be a scientist. I just don’t know what I want.” She was so overwhelmed with trying to decide what she wanted in her future, in her career and every time her parents asked, she thinks she disappoints them a little bit more. 

“You don’t have to figure it out today or even this year. You aren’t even twenty yet. I’m sure you’ll be okay, Nora.” He sounds so sure and confident in her that she can’t help but feel the same. 

“You’re very wise for your twenty-three years, Bobby Queen.” She playfully pats his arm as they walk side by side. 

“Well, when your parents have lived hundreds of lives, it’s hard not to be.”

“What’s that like? Your parents being bonded and _that_ old?” She has always wondered what it was like to be a child of the Queens. It wasn’t exactly a secret how in love Felicity and Oliver were with each other. 

He rubs the back of his neck, “Uh— in some aspects it’s cool. Like to know that throughout time, through everything they still find each other almost every time. Or how they can be in opposite rooms and know when the other needs them. Dad knew with each of us when she went into labor, mom is always moody when dad has to deal with the board and dad was always extra broody when mom got her periods before the hysterectomy. 

I guess I just got used to my parents always knowing what the other was thinking and doing. The sex mind stuff is definitely gross, though.”

She giggles at his disgusted voice and expression, his nose scrunches up like he smells something rancid. 

“But it also sucks to think they bonded at fourteen and it still took my dad ten years to be with her. Every life, my dad is such a dick to her in the beginning.” 

Nora is shocked at the admission. She can’t imagine Oliver Queen being anything but head over heels in love with his wife.

“There was a time where he wasn’t in love with her? She asks quietly. 

Bobby shakes his head looking off at the trees, “Dad doesn’t know how _not_ to be in love with mom. He just always feels like they are jipped by being soulmates and always getting bonded. And then he remembers he’s in love with her and it always ends with them together so why fight it?”

She stops walking and tilts her head up at him, “Is that why you want us to get to know each other? Because of your parents?”

It makes her heart pitter patter that he is so sure soul mates should care for each other, for them to be at _least_ friends. But it also makes her feel cold that he is doing it solely out of duty and if it was a choice, she wouldn’t even make a platform finish.

He nods like a child being caught doing something he shouldn’t , “But your loyalty is so excessive, Sweets. If you were a superhero, it would definitely be that as your name.” 

She smiles at him, allowing herself just to enjoy a few moments with him in these secluded woods where no one can see them. “Mom always calls me XS. For excess.” 

His grin is just as pure enjoying the moment created for them. He pushes a stray lock from her pinned back hair. “She’s right but it’s endearing.”

She just shakes her head at him and he asks, “What’s your mark of?”

She almost spouts you’ll just have to wait and see but that would be dangerously close to flirting if not full on so she settles to just tell him. 

“Paint,” 

He huffs and sounds almost awe like, “Like my mom?”

“Like your mom,” She whispers. 

She reaches between them and grabs his hand showing him his palm like he doesn’t see the importance, “And mine.”

He looks at their joined hands and back at her, “Really?”

“I always knew I was just like my dad,” She sighs, rubbing a finger against his calloused hand. “My uncle and his soulmate are just friends,” She tells him and he nods, but his eyes graze over her very unfriendly like. 

Nora goes to turn back, dropping his hand, but because she is as graceful as a newborn gazelle, she trips over her shoes and he is there to catch her as always. 

She is wrapped in his arms, both staring at each other and it would take nothing at all for her to reach up and push her lips against his. And for a moment, she inclines her head to do just that. But in the last moments between innocence and cheating, she pulls back and bites her lip. 

“I think we should go back.” 

He agrees with her and they walk back in a silence much less comfortable than before. 

———

The day of Dawn’s birthday party, she told herself she wasn’t getting dressed up because of Bobby and was only dressing up for the chance of meeting someone to in fact _forget_ about Bobby. 

Because Bobby and Dawn fit together so perfectly and Nora never would stand a chance to measure up.

She stares at herself in the mirror at the dress she was wearing and had it on for two seconds before she felt completely ridiculous. It didn’t make her feel cute or attractive but just a Dawn wannabe-- an off brand version which is the last thing she wants to look like.

She settles with her faux leather black mini skirt and tucked in a deep grey skin tight turtleneck sweater feeling much more like herself. This was her favorite outfit, handpicked by Dawn. She was never comfortable with showing skin and the dress she had on was dangerously low in the back and it wouldn’t take much movement for her mark to be on display. 

And it would take an even shorter amount of time to put it all together. Watercolor spots on her are so similar to Felicity and a lighting bolt on him just like her mom. It wasn’t a coincidence he got a lightning bolt and she couldn’t understand why Dawn hadn’t questioned the fact when their dad first touched their mom, the same thing appeared. 

She slipped on her white converse high tops over her black stockings and leather jacket and beat down the nerves making its way up her throat. It gnawed at her knowing she was going to have to see Dawn and Bobby together as the picturesque couple, Dawn holding Bobby’s hand and covering the mark like it wasn’t even there.

It made Nora want to climb into bed and cry.

But she sucked it up, and put on her brightest smile as she skipped the line into Verdant and received the _X_ on her hand that she was underage. She found Dawn quickly in the VIP section with Dinah in her perfect sequined dress and BIRTHDAY GIRL sash, Bobby nowhere to be seen.

“Hey sissy,” Nora holds tight to Dawn, inhaling her vanilla smell as though it will shield her from the unwelcome thoughts of Bobby. “Happy Birthday!”

Dawn preens as Nora finally pulls away from her, but she doesn’t let go of her hand, “I can’t believe I am twenty-five. Ugh, I’m old.” Dawn pouts and Nora scoffs.

“Shut up, you are not old.” Nora shakes her head, finally breaking contact with her big sister and feeling the coldness that completely takes over without her.

“Where are the Queens?” Nora asks when all she cares about is Bobby, but that would be way too obvious.

“Thea wanted to see them so they are over at the bar,” Dawn points her manicured finger over Nora’s shoulder and she follows it to the Queen siblings are each facing them as they talk to their aunt.

She doesn’t spend even time on Mia and William wanting more to waste her few seconds solely on Bobby. His hair was down, somewhat tamed with some pushes behind his ear, and he didn’t have his glasses on. He looks no more dolled up than usual-- his white crew neck is sans paint however. Nora would admit that no other man should ever try to wear a denim jacket because no one would ever compare to Bobby Queen in one.

She clears her throat and turns back to her sister and Dinah, “Hi Dinah,”

Dinah gives a wiggle of fingers in greeting, turning back to her phone and sipping her cocktail through a stirrer straw. The music is loud in Nora’s ears and almost vibrates her brain and she would much rather be at home and having her nightly face time with her parents. 

But alas, sister duties call.

She was getting rather tired of her sisterly duty.

“Do you want a drink? I’m sure Bobby could sneak you something,” Dawn grabs her hand and pulls Nora to take a seat on the plush emerald couch. 

Nora perches herself next to her sister, always feeling a comfort with her by her side when in public. Where Nora is awkward and trips over herself, Dawn is confident, precise and does it with such beauty. When Nora is extra anxious or scared, she tells herself to think of what Dawn would do and it helps her get through the moment. She tried not to use this strategy when it came to Bobby.

“I’m okay,” Nora answers, and can’t help her eyes being pulled back over to the Queens.

“What are they talking about?” Nora asks.

“Oh, you know Aunt Thea,” Dinah pops her gum, “She just likes to see if all of her baby ducks are behind her. Never one to leave us behind.”

Nora didn’t know Thea, had never spoken more than three words to any of the Queens other than Bobby and William. All she knew about her was what everyone knew. She was the love child of Tommy Merlyn’s dad and Oliver Queen’s mom and she was what pulled the Merlyn’s and Queen’s into a true family. She married young, and ran Verdant with her husband who was Tommy and Oliver’s close friend. They didn’t have any children of their own which is why she was so close to the Queen’s offspring and Dinah. Dinah was closest to her, most likely would have Verdant left to her when Thea retired.

Bobby looks up from Thea just as Nora’s eyes are back on him and she gulps. He isn’t supposed to look at her, he is supposed to look at Dawn and Dawn only. When he looked at her like that, Nora got confused and hope would bloom in her chest when it wasn’t supposed to. Because he looks at her right now like he wants her and wants nothing more than to throw her over his shoulder and walk out of the club. 

She averts her gaze and doesn’t seek him out for the next two hours. She even strays away from Dawn to say hello to William. She felt only slightly odd being out with her boss, but outside of work, William acted like she was just a friend. He left pretty quickly after the cake was brought out, blaming it on being ten years older than the rest of them and it being his bedtime.

Nora stuttered through her one conversation with Mia, the innate scowl on the blonde’s face intimidating Nora insto silence though Connor made up for it with his constant act of including Nora into conversation. 

But she avoided Bobby, she never stood near him, never listened when he spoke and definitely didn’t look at him. 

And then someone asked to buy her a drink when she stood at the bar. He was cute with his jet black hair combed to the side in a perfectly quaffed way. His smile was pearly white and he looked like he just got off work at some office job. The antithesis of Bobby Queen. Just what she needed. 

“Oh, I am not drinking,” She clarifies and wants to smack herself in the head for being so damn awkward. “But if I was, it really wouldn’t be right to let you buy a drink because I’m with the Queens.”

His blue eyes almost chuckle at her and his lips turn into a smirk just like Bobby does when she starts rambling--well the two times she had rambled around him, but with this guy it didn’t make her stomach erupt in butterflies. It did nothing.

“I’m not _with_ the Queens. I am just an accessory,” She continues and then stops and brings her palm to her forehead and counts to three, “Wait, I’m _not_ an accessory. My sister--”

“I’m Peter,” He sticks his hand out and just as she slips her hands into his large one, she feels warmth against her back and her mark tingles.

“She isn’t interested,” Bobby’s voice is all about a growl and definitely Mia like and Peter’s eyes show fear and he scurries away without another word. 

Nora frowns, anger brewing in her belly and turns to face him, her eyes set in complete hatred towards him. This is all _his_ fault.

“How dare you!” She snaps, shoving him slightly back so she could rush away from him. People were all around and it would only be a matter of time before they recognized Bobby wasn’t beside her sister like he was supposed to be. 

Angry tears well in her eyes in the situation she currently found herself in. She pushes out the door into a secluded alley, thankful for the fresh crisp air and the loud music dulls once the door thuds shut. She crossed her arms tight against her like it would keep her from falling apart as she leans against the cool brick wall. 

The music increases again and she looks up to see him stomping out the door to find her. His eyes are raging, blazing in anger and the usual bright green look more like a dark forest. 

She glares right back at him, “You _cannot_ do that!”

“Bullshit, you can’t just let strangers pick you up in a bar,” His hands are on his hips, his chest rising and falling but he doesn’t get closer to her.

“You don’t _own_ me, Bobby! You have no say in what or _who_ I do.”

“Nora,” He growled. 

She pushes off the brick wall, and shoves a finger towards him, “You _have_ a girlfriend. Why am I in the one who has to remind you of that? And you can’t be jealous if I go home with someone!” She screams.

“Watch me!”

She stomps her foot, a puddle of water splashing between them and staining his probably hundred dollar chinos, “I am not going to sit around while you fuck my sister. I am sorry that I wanted one damn thing that wasn’t a hand-me-down from her, asshole.”

She doesn’t realize how close he had gotten, with each fire spat remark, he had taken another step closer to her. She crosses her arms over her chest in defiance of her mark, of him, of herself.

“I didn’t ask for this, Nora,” He hisses at her.

She narrows her eyes and wishes she could shoot lasers at him, “And _I_ did? I was doing just fine without a soulmate--perfect actually.”

“If you paid more attention, this never would have happened,” His hands are clenched into fists at his sides and she lets out a strangled scream.

“This isn’t _my_ fault!” She could almost cry because she was so frustrated, she was so tired and she wanted him to disappear. She wanted a world where he didn’t even _exist._ “I am _trying_ to avoid you. I am _trying_ to not care about you. I am doing _everything_ I can for you to have your perfect life with Dawn and I’m _trying_ not to ruin it.”

“I don’t--” He stops and he looks, for the first time, just as tortured as she is. 

Her back is once against the brick wall and he is completely covering her. His chest is against her breasts, his thighs pressing against her skirt and she forgets to breathe. His forehead is against hers, his hands holding her face and she thinks if he tries to kiss her, she won’t know how to stop him.

His eyes are no longer angry, but still just as wild. She looks into his own and couldn’t look away if she tried. Her hands hold his forearms, and then he speaks, and she only smells mint.

“I don’t know how to stay away from you,” He whispers, broken and relieved like he finally is able to admit the truth.

She doesn’t know what to say, she doesn’t know how to explain how she wants him all the time.

“Ruin it, Sweets.” He murmurs, the nickname causing her to almost melt. He had only said it a few times in the last two months, when they accidentally ran into each other. “Ruin the whole fucking thing.”

And if it was five seconds earlier, she would have. She would have finally, _finally,_ closed the gap between them and finally get what she wanted to bad. But she doesn’t because instead of the quiet alley, she hears:

“Well, this is a development.”

Nora’s heart stops, looking over his arm, her lips now against his palm, against his mark and she sees one Mia Queen Diggle standing at the door. 

“Mia, leave.” Bobby hasn’t moved away from Nora and she is sure he is still looking right at her, but Nora can only stare at Mia. 

Because there was no way to explain this. They were practically wrapped around each other, Nora having tears in her eyes, Bobby looking ready to murder and it looked every bit of a lover’s spat. 

“Your girlfriend is looking for you,” Mia tells them, looking neither judgmental nor uncaring. 

“I need to go,” Nora clasps her hands on his to pull them away from her face. 

“No. No, Sweets. We are talking.” His voice is breaking, strangled and she shakes her head frantically. 

“Your girlfriend is looking for you.” She is still holding his hands and brings his marked palm to her lips, “And I love her more than I want you.” 

She stumbles away from him, tears already streaming down her face and she doesn’t turn back when she hears his yell of frustration and the bang of flesh hitting metal. She doesn’t turn around because if she did, she’d never leave him. 

* * *

_I'll come for you, if you just stay where you are_

Bobby paced his studio, trying to tamp down the raging pain that took root in his chest. He couldn't imagine how this happened, how a handful of conversations with her had caused this innate need to bloom inside of him. He found reasons to go see his family at work, he avoided Dawn, and screened her calls. All he wanted was Nora and he had no idea what to do about it. She was never going to hurt Dawn--ever.

How could he have ruined things so drastically?

“Bobby, you here?” He hears from the front of the gallery and he ignores it because this is all _her_ fault and she was the last person he wanted to talk to.

“I can hear you thinking from all the way out there, bubba,” She says pushing the sheet hanging up in front of the opening that separated the gallery from his studio.

He glares at her, hoping his anger could be compounded into just his eyes and she would disintegrate. 

“Don’t pout. I saved you from a whole other level of shit,” Mia pats him on the shoulder as she steps by, and he narrows his eyes at the smattering of stars on her cheek and wondering why she gets to have it so easy and he gets fucked.

“You ruined everything,” He snaps, dropping onto a stool and covering his face with his hands.

“No, I didn’t.” She scoffs looking through his paintings like they were free to meander and she was at a record shop, “Whatever you having going on with baby West Allen needs to stop because--”

“She’s my soulmate, Mia,” He sighs into his hands, feeling the mark against his lips--the same mark Nora kissed when she left him.

A canvas drops against another one and Mia chuckles, “Not _that_ is a development.”

“Fuck off,” He mutters with no malice. 

“Well, what are you gonna do about it?” She asks, and he looks up to see her in front of him — arms crossed and he can see the small bump on her belly starting to poke out from underneath her black sweater. 

“Fuck if I know. I didn’t want to do anything, but now—now I want her, Mia. And I don’t exactly know how to handle that.”

She pulls a stool close to him and sits on the edge, looking every bit like a big sister and not a nuisance like he normally sees her. 

“For starters, you might want to dump her sister.” 

Bobby closes his eyes in remorse. He knows he needs to , but every time he gets the courage, he just imagines Nora being so heartbroken at him ruining her relationship with Dawn that he chickens out. 

“Even if you don’t tell her about Nora. You still need to break up with her,” Mia shrugs like it is easy. 

For her it was, she had never been dumped or had to dump any one. Connor was her one and only in every sense of the word. She didn’t know heartbreak. She never would have to. 

“It’s gonna break her heart,” He sighs and he doesn’t know which sister he is looking out for anymore. 

“It’s either one broken heart or three.” 

“What if you dated JJ before you found out about Connor? What would you do?” He asks and he feels a little lighter at her disgusted twist of the lips so similar to his own. 

“Well, ew. But—I probably wouldn’t sit around crying about it. And I would dump JJ and do whatever Connor wanted me to do.” She grins at his name. It’s the only time Mia is ever soft and wistful. When she talks about Connor, about their life, about their soon to be child. 

She places a hand on her bump as though to remind herself their love was real and nothing had shaken that in this hypothetical conversation. 

“Why give up soulmates because of hurt feelings?” 

He nods and knows what he needs to do. 

————-

“I want to break up,” He is sitting on her couch and she has just walked back from the kitchen with a cup of water and the water is now on the floor and she is panicked in front of him, sitting on her coffee table and looking at him like he is dying of a mysterious illness.

“What? Why?” She sputters, reaching for him, but he pulls back ever so slightly, but she notices. 

She was reaching for his hand, his mark and he didn’t want her to touch it, didn’t want anyone to touch the spot where Nora last was.

But she sees it, and she looks down at the way he was protecting himself and she huffs out a hurt breath, “That isn’t a tattoo, is it?”

He shakes his head, unable to look at her with eyes the exact same shade as her sister. When every part of her was Nora’s opposite, the eyes of the West Allen sisters is what reminds others of how alike they were. 

“Do you--do you know who it is?” She asks and he almost tells her.

He _almost_ tells the truth. _Almost_ breaks and tells her he is rather sure it will only take one more look from Nora to be in love with her in a way it hadn’t happened between them in a year. 

And it isn’t Dawn he is protecting when he shakes his head at her, it’s Nora.

“But I feel different and I don’t want to ignore it,” He settles with. “I want to find them and not just leave it alone.”

“No, I guess you wouldn’t,” She murmurs, and he can hear the pain in her voice, the breathy noise broken up by tears.

“It’s not fair to you,” He adds.

“Of course, soulmates and all,” She simpers, not giving him anything and he can feel deep in his chest that Dawn doesn’t believe this is the end. 

To her, this a break and once he realizes soulmates don’t have to be everything, he’d come back to her.

“My Uncle Wally and his soulmate are just best friends, ya know?” She tells him and mutters an oh really?

Because how does he explain he knew from the moment he saw the mark on his hand, he knew Nora West Allen was never going to be _just_ a friend. And when Nora told him about their uncle, he almost kissed her just to get the thought out of her head.

“We’ll be fine, Bobby,” She nods, completely sure of herself and he doesn’t know how to contradict her. 

He doesn’t know how to tell her no without breaking her into a million little pieces. He didn’t know how to make this right.

He is caught off guard when she grabs him on the chin and pecks him on the lips. It feels wrong and he wonders just how long it had been since he kissed her last. Had she been counting? Had she been wondering what was wrong with him and was she counting the days down to this moment? 

“I need to go,” He tells her in a daze. He didn’t want to be here anymore. He wanted to see Nora and he is a right dick for dumping a girl and going straight to her sister’s place in the same night. 

But he really didn’t care anymore.

He isn't proud of himself for texting Mia and asking her to use the SCPD database to get his soulmate’s address, but he didn’t want to wait until he saw Nora at Queen Global the following Monday.

No, it needed to be now.

Her apartment borders the line of Star City and the Glades. Even though his family had done a lot to improve the Glades in the last thirty something years, it still wasn’t the best place to live. But Nora lived in an apartment where three blocks east was a million dollar complex and two blocks west was where a murder took place a month ago.

He realized he had driven past her place multiple times on the way to the free clinic. 

Bobby gets to her door, and knocks three times hoping she is alone. He isn’t sure he’d be able to contain himself if she had someone over. He literally just came from her sister’s place--he was such a hypocritical ass. He can almost hear William berating him.

But the door opens and there she is and he feels like he can breathe a little easier.

He pushes up his glasses, runs a hand through his unkempt hair and sighs just at seeing her. Her outfit is in a state of disarray like a picasso painting. Her too big grey top with CENTRAL CITY CSI across the front, her bright yellow pajama bottom peeking out, her knee high socks covered in snakes. She was every bit of what he needed to see--a breath of fresh air.

“Bobby,” Her eyebrows furrow, and she bites her lip, her hand still on the door.

“Are you here alone?” He asks her.

“What?” Her head tilts and then she answers, “Yeah, of course.”

He had a plan and he was going to explain to her everything, but something came over him with her being in front of him and all he knows to do is step into the apartment and pull her close.

His hands grasp her face just as they did a week ago, but this time he doesn’t hesitate to push his lips against her. She yelps, startled, but then shocking him, her small hands clutch the sides of his t-shirt and she kisses him back. 

Bobby kicks the door shut, and she opens her mouth for him. Two months of denying this and now he could never go back to before. How much time did he waste when she was right here the whole time? He wished they touched before, when her family visited when they were younger. This all could have been avoided if they just grazed each other.

Her hands are under his shirt now, her nails scraping against his skin and he groans into her mouth. Her lips move against his with such ease, his mark against her check burning in happiness.

“Wait, wait--” She pushes him off her gently, shaking her head, “We can’t, Bobby.”

He nods in defiance, his chest heaving and he tries not to focus on her swollen lips, “We can’t deny this to protect others. We are destined, Sweets.”

“But,” She whispers, and her chin tucks into her chest.

“We broke up, and even if you kick me out right now, I will still be broken up.” He tells her, tilting her chin to look back up at him, her eyes watering again.

“I don’t want to hurt her,” She whimpers.

“I know,” He wraps his arms around her now, embracing her in a way he had been wanting to do for weeks. “But I don’t want to hurt you _more_.”

She breathes against his shirt and he keeps her steady with a hand to the back of her head. He never noticed just how short she was compared to him, she barely reaches the middle of her sternum. 

“Just me and you, Bobby.” She whispers and it causes his chest, his heart, to tighten and the extra blood pumping out causes tingling throughout his body. “It could be just me and you?” She lifts her head to look up at him with sparkling eyes.

He nods, almost frantic. “Me and you, Sweets.”

He kisses her again and this time it is soft and full of love. She sighs into him, her palms pressed flat against his chest and he knows even with him bent down, she is still on her tiptoes.

He was right. It took absolutely nothing to be in love with her. 

\-- ---

Bobby woke up the next morning in Nora’s bed feeling more rested than he had in months. He is alone in the queen sized bed and he reaches out an arm to feel her side of the bed and finds it cool. He frowned, knowing Nora is awkward enough to leave her _own_ house just to avoid confrontation. He sits on the edge of the bed, fits his hair back into a bun and slips his glasses on. 

He takes a second to look around her room and finds comfort in the mess. She had textbooks stacked in the corner of all subjects, her dirty clothes falling out of the laundry basket and her dresser was bright blue. Her room was just as bright and perky as Nora’s personality.

He shuffles out of the room and into the kitchen to find her flipping a pancake without a spatula and just the flick of her wrist. It flew into the air and landed perfectly into the skillet and she nodded at it with happiness at her success.

“And here you said you weren’t skilled,” He teases her, hopping onto the counter across from the stove.

She giggles, “My dad taught me how to make pancakes. Mom _sucks_ at it. How something can be burnt but also undercooked I will never understand.” She flips the pancake onto a plate and covers it in butter before she turns off the stove and places the skillet to the side. 

“Cooking is peaceful to me. I always like to wake up early and make something to start my day,” She tells him, standing in front of him from his spot at the counter.

He hops down so he can be closer to her and asks, “Is there enough for me?”

She nods brightly and he leans down and kisses her, her smile molding against him. Her hands wrap around his neck and he could almost sigh at how easy it was in this moment with her. 

She pulls away, and looks at him through her long lashes, “You’re okay with waiting, right?”

He nods. It was as they were getting hot and heavy the night before that she told him she had never had sex before. He was pretty sure he stopped breathing for a second when she said it. It just added to the pressure of soulmates--his beautiful soulmate who waited because she never wanted to hurt anyone. He wanted to make it perfect, he never wanted to hurt her and fuck he was nervous for the day they did have sex.

“You’re stuck with me,” He shrugs and her lips stretch into a large grin, lighting up her brown eyes.

“I think I can handle that.”

* * *

_see, I'm in love with how your soul's a mix of chaos and art and how you never try to keep 'em apart_

When Nora let herself let go, to damn all the consequences, she felt overwhelming happiness. When he would stop by her desk under the pretense of a message from his brother, when she’d make him dinner in his apartment, when he kissed her good night.

She was happy, and it terrified her when it would implode, but for right now, right in this moment all she could think about was she was without a doubt in love with her soulmate and instead of thinking about how he felt, about if he wished they weren’t anything, all she could think is for the first time--she was in love.

Which is why she now stood in front of him in his kitchen telling him she wanted to have sex. He was washing dishes, telling her about his day and she is standing beside him drying and she can’t help it--it is almost like she couldn’t even hold it in anymore.

“Right now?” He asks, the sponge in his hand stilled and covered in soap. She feels her insecurities began to build again.

The whole reason she kept putting it off was the fear of being compared to her sister and the fact the last person he slept was, in fact, Dawn. It was enough for her to want to wait until she could forget that _fact._

But the want for him outweighed the fear.

“I guess it can wait until after dishes,” She shrugs, but he has already turned the faucet off, dropped the sponge in the sink and taken the plate she was drying out of her hand. 

She giggles as he begins to kiss her and walks her towards the stairs that would lead to the upstairs of his loft. Once to the stairs, instead of breaking apart like she expects, he lifts her while still heavily making out and effortlessly makes his way up. 

His tongue is massaging her own and her fingers scrape against his scalp and she feels that still new feeling of lust building in her belly. They had fooled around in the last few weeks quite a bit. Bobby always makes her comfortable as well as quivering. She really shouldn’t be surprised how expertly he uses his hands based solely on his art. He treated her like a canvas and he was creating his perfect masterpiece. 

She unwraps her legs from his waist once they make it to his bedroom and pulls off her shirt and bra, finally standing in front of him half naked for the first time. 

She hadn’t taken her shirt off yet in front of him, he hadn’t even pushed to raise her clothes to see her mark. It made her nervous, like he didn’t want to see it and solidify what they were, but the other piece of her told her he was just letting her take the lead. 

Because before her shirt even hits the ground, he is turning her and his fingertips graze against her lower back. It felt like the mark was moving with his touch, preening under his attention. She looks over her shoulder and all she sees is him focused in on the paint splatter, forever etched into her. 

And then he smiles, and turns her back around and his lips are on her again. 

“If at any point you change your mind, you have to tell me, okay?” He pulls away from her lips just enough to speak to her and she nods. 

She won’t be changing her mind. 

Their clothes are gone quickly after that and Bobby takes his time, kissing every inch of her as a prep from what she knows will hurt. She marvels at his body, somehow still lean and cut even though she had never seen him once do anything remotely athletic. Her fingers trailed his skin, reveling in the response she gains. 

And then he is above her and it is still and quiet and she wants the moment to last forever. The ends of his dark golden brown hair tickle her cheek and she pushes it back behind his ear. 

She loves him.

She loves him.

“You’re sure?” He asks her, looking quite pained at his restraint. 

She nods bending a leg and he nestles in between her. She can feel his heart pounding against her and she wonders if he is just as nervous about this as she was. 

He places her hands on his back around his waist, beginning to massage her lips with his own and when she is so drunk on it, he pushes into her. The pain radiates her core at the first time being stretched to the brink like she is. She can’t even help the oh of shock that emits from her mouth, her fingernails clawing into his back and then biting his lip. It seems he knew exactly how this would go because he doesn’t show pleasure but instead just leans his forehead against her. 

“You okay?” He whispers. 

The pain is starting to recede and it becomes just a dull pulsation. So she nods and asks him to move. And he does, so slow that her eyes slam shut at the mixture of pleasure and pain and she isn’t sure which will win out. He is still reserved, only moving when she asks, one hand on her cheek and the other on her hip. 

“Faster,” She whispers and his speed goes only slightly quicker. The more he pushes into her, the less it hurts. 

She can feel her mark burning on her back and it is then she releases the moan. It seems hearing her enjoying it breaks something in Bobby. His grip tightens, his breath becomes ragged and the hand on her hip moves between her legs. 

Feeling his fingers on her while he was inside her causes her to moan even louder, begging him not to stop. She clutches his hair, it’s curled into her fingers like vines and she pulls his lips to meet her. 

She can feel the orgasm building, it is still a completely new sensation but she is begging for more. She wraps her legs around his back and his angle changes and paired with his fingers causes her to melt under his touch, crying out as her walls tighten around him. 

“Fuck,” he mutters and then she feels pulsating and she knows he came only seconds after she finished. 

It’s heavy, their breathing the only sounds before he starts placing open kisses on her neck, her chest and then back to her lips. 

“You’re still okay?” He asks breathlessly

She can only nod. 

She takes a few moments, running her fingers through his hair before admitting, “I shouldn’t have waited so long to do that with you.”

He chuckles, kissing her again. “Give me a little bit of time, and you can do it all over again.”

“Promise?” She asks her pinky finger moving between them. 

Her hooks his own around hers, “Guaranteed.”

—————

Bobby wakes up the next morning before Nora, sneaking out of the bed to go fetch a cup of coffee. He didn’t have his usual night cup and he was already itching for it. If anyone questioned where Bobby Queen came from, all they needed was to see the slew of coffee grounds in his freezer and the twenty coffee mugs in his cabinet and everyone would know he was Felicity Smoak’s son.

Nora didn’t like coffee unless it was so full of cream, it looked like just milk and so he had started buying different types of creamers to stock in his fridge. He got her class vanilla and hazelnut as well as almond joy and oreo. He found them all disgusting but it made her clap her hands in excitement when she saw them. 

Even if it gained weird glances from Dinah when she came over last week and questioned the new addition to his refrigerator when everyone knew Bobby drank his coffee as black as Mia’s soul.

He shuffles back up the stairs with his coffee cup in hand and when he hits the landing, he takes a second to relish in his new normal.

Nora was still fast asleep on her stomach, her head turned towards him and a soft smile on her sleeping face. The sheet wrapped around her right leg and across her lower back side giving a full view of the mark.

It was watercolor paint, practically dripping down her back in reds and golds. It shimmered like it was freshly crafted and all Bobby wanted to do was bottle up the colors and use only those two shades for all of his paintings.

Her hand reaches up to rub at her nose before placing her hand under her cheek and sighing. He sips on his hot drink, placing it on the dresser beside him before climbing back into the bed with her. She moves then, awoken by him and she grumbles incoherently.

He chuckles at her morning mood and she asks, “What time is it?”

He glances at the clock behind her, “Seven.”

She groans, “I have to be at work in an hour.”

Bobby rolls her over so he is settled back on top of her. He leans down and tilts her chin to get better access to her neck, “I know your boss. I think you’ll be fine.”

“Uh-uh.” She palms his face and pushes him away from her, “Just cause I am sleeping with the prodigal son doesn’t mean I get to slack off.”

He removes her hand from his face and raises a brow, “You’re sleeping with William? He is _married_ , Nora.” He gives his best scandalized face and she rolls her eyes.

“No, I am thinking of his annoying baby brother,” 

He shrugs the best he can when lying on top of her, “You weren’t complaining last night.” He kisses her forehead, “But if you want me to go...” 

She hooks her ankles together behind his back and shakes her head, “No sir, you are officially stuck with me.”

“ _I_ wasn’t the one complaining about that, Sweets.” He clarifies and she pouts.

“Bobby,” she whines, drawing out of his name and he leans down to put her out of her misery.

She giggles against his mouth and once again, Bobby wonders just how long this perfect little bubble would last before someone took a needle to it.

* * *

_I guess love took on a different kind of meaning for me_

Bobby wasn't one to be festive, but he did like the way it gave reason for his family to spend extra time with each other. Thanksgiving was always held at the Queen household and his parents sent all of the workers home with extra food and ordered them to not come back until after New Years (Paid of course). And then his dad spent the whole Thanksgiving in the kitchen with Aunt Thea and Uncle Tommy. The mismatched siblings spent the day catching up on everything-- Tommy and Thea sitting and pretending to help while his dad moved around them effortlessly.

And Bobby spent time with his siblings, his cousins, and now his niece and nephew while his mom and aunts sipped wine. It was a nice time that he always looked forward to. The Diggles, Merlyns, and Lances always came and stayed the nights. Usually, because someone always passed out drunk (see here: Tommy Merlyn and Sara Lance). This year, the West Allens were coming since both of their daughters were now in Star City and Bobby was happy for a day with Nora even if it meant Dawn also being there and Bobby having to act like he wasn’t secretly dating her baby sister. 

She came through the door and he isn’t surprised by her bright red sweater and dark gold skirt that swung as she move and staple leather jacket. He has a secret grin that they match the colors of her mark and it causes want to make its way through his body. She is holding a casserole dish tightly and taking short steps, most likely afraid to slip and drop the dish as well as her duffel and he hops off the sofa and meets her in the foyer.

Dawn smiles at him as she slips past to greet the people still in the living room while Barry and Iris go to find the parents. He barely even gives her a second glance, his mind solely on his girlfriend. 

“Hey,” He smiles at her, reminding himself not to lean over the dish and peck her on the lips. 

She grins up at him, lifting the green ceramic higher to be almost in front of her face, “I brought cobbler.”

He takes it from her, his fingers grazing hers and even something so small is enough to settle him. “We can put it in the kitchen.”

She follows him, no one questioning why Nora needed to go with him. She shrugs off her jacket, holding it over crossed arms and looks around at the decorations littering the walls as they head towards the kitchen.

“God, you are so rich,” She mumbles and he chuckles not even offended, “Your lawyers are going to make me sign a prenup, aren’t they?”

He grins a secret smile, enjoying the way she has fallen into looking at the future for them and she didn’t even realize it. She didn’t blanch at her words, at her no filter, she just continued on grumbling about how she wouldn’t be having this many plants because she would kill them all.

They make it into the kitchen where his dad is stirring a pot of collard greens while his aunt and uncle are throwing cheese cubes back and forth between each other and trying to catch it in their mouths. 

“Bobby!” Thea smiles at him and right when Tommy turns she chucks a cheese cube at the side of his face.

“Ass,” He glares.

“Bitch,” she simpers.

Nora stands quietly beside him and he can feel her awkwardness at being in the room with the original Queens and Merlyn. When Aunt Thea came into the family, though technically not a Queen, her older brothers thought it would be better for her to take the Queen name and everything that came with it instead of the weight of being a Merlyn. So she did and no one ever questioned it because her brothers would kill them if they did. 

“West Allens brought a cobbler,” Bobby gestures towards the dish that smelled of sweet fruit.

His dad turns and makes a face that somehow, Nora reads, because she adds, “I made it. Not my mom.”

Dad nods, accepting that answer, “Put it with the others, Bobby.”

He walks through the large kitchen and knows Nora is silently observing the size and wishing she could cook in it. One day, when they don’t have to hide or please anyone, he would bring her in here and let her cook all day if she wanted. 

“How do you like working at Queen Global, Nora?” Tommy asks, always more conversational than his dad. 

She shrugs and Bobby is back to her side, close enough for friends, but far enough away that they wouldn’t realize they were more. “I don’t think it is fully for me. Not that I don't enjoy it!” She panics when she realizes she is talking to the founders of the company, “It’s great to their employees and Mrs. Queen and William are great teachers but I think I just am better suited in a different field.”

He wants to rest a hand on her back, he wants to calm her or let her know she doesn’t even need to worry, but his dad breathes through a smile and it is so similar to how he looks when his mom is going off on a tangent that Bobby doesn’t even know how to react.

“I’m sure you’ll find the field that suits you,” His dad encourages, “Your dad has made quite a career in forensics.”

Nora nods thankfully, “I still have time.”

“Just don’t get an art degree. What the fuck will you do with that?” Tommy teases.

Bobby flips him off, “Better than a degree in--wait, you didn’t graduate from any of the three colleges you went to.”

Thea laughs through her hand covered mouth and Oliver shakes his head.

Tommy holds a hand to his heart, “You wound me, nephew.”

Bobby rolls his eyes, “Well, I am going to show Nora where to put her things. Dad, Aunt Thea--you are doing great. Tommy--sub par as per usual.”

He hears Tommy as soon as they are back in the hall tell his dad, “It’s times like that I remember how he is equal parts you and blondie and it is all the smartass parts.”

He chuckles at his uncle and once in the comfort of the hallway, he places a hand on her lower back.

“Don’t you get lost?” She asks when he takes them up a staircase and to the room she could stay that night. There were enough rooms in the mansion for all the family’s to have their own and Bobby might have slipped to Mia to slip to William to slip to his mom to arrange for Nora to only be right across the hall from him. 

And then have Mia also slip to William who slipped to mom that Dawn should be in the east wing away from them. 

“Once during hide and seek when I was seven. I got lost for three hours.”

“I once got lost in a supermarket,” she tells him, “But that’s because Cisco got a call about something very exciting and he ran off and forgot he was babysitting.”

Bobby has picked up from the conversations between them as well as a year with Dawn that Cisco was Barry’s best friend after Bobby’s dad. They met after Barry retired and took a job at CCPD which coincidentally he and Iris both grew up in Central City. 

“How pissed was your mom?” Bobby asks. 

Nora giggles, “She went to Star Labs and erased his board.” 

Bobby laughs and judges by her tone that erasing Cisco’s board was the same as breaking an arm. He cuts to the left to where his room is. He stops at the door across from him and pushes it open. 

“This is where you’ll be staying tonight,” he tells her. 

She steps into the room filled with his paintings over the years--his mom was a little too proud of him, but she refused to take them down. She drops her bag and walks over to the bed, plopping down on it and pushing against the mattress. 

“How big is this bed?” She asks looking at it in awe.

He tilts his head and shrugs, “King? California King?”

“Can I take it home with me?” She asks, pushing her lip out and clasping her hands in front of her chin. 

“Only if you are good,” He shrugs, walking over to her and standing so their legs are touching. 

“Where’s your room?” She asks, looking up at him. 

“Across the hall,” He nods back at the door.

She raises a brow at him, “Bobby Queen, did you plan that?” 

He winks at her, cupping her face and leaning down to give her a quick chaste kiss on the lips. “Your soulmate is very sly.”

“How slytherin of you,” She teases before standing up, “We should probably get back before people start to suspect I have kidnapped you and put out a ransom.”

He rolls his eyes, but follows her out of the room, “Yeah, I am pretty sure they would just assume we’re fucking, Sweets.”

Her cheeks blush at his crass comment and walks faster down the hallway. He chuckles catching up to her, and pulling her back to him. 

“They wouldn’t be wrong,” He teases, kissing her nose and she sighs. 

“No, they would just be appalled,” She murmurs and he knows she is overthinking. That in her mind, everyone around them would pull them apart and remind them just who is supposed to be with who. 

“You think too much, baby.” 

He untangles himself from her just in time because they aren’t even fully apart before he hears the pattering of footsteps and he knows William’s daughter is just around the corner. 

“Uncle Bobby! Uncle Bobby!” He looks over Nora’s shoulder at the strawberry blonde clumsily running towards him. 

The four year old jumps in his arms without warning and he is there to catch her effortlessly. 

“Hanes!” He gives just as much excitement at seeing her. “How is my favorite four year old?”

She gives a toothy grin and holds his face in her little hands, “Guess what?”

“You are running for president?” He asks and she gives him a look that tells him he is stupid. At four years old, Hannah Kepner Queen had already mastered the look just like Luis. It was terrifying, honestly.

“I made a friend,” Hannah whispers, her hands still pushing his face and causing his lips to scrunch into a fish mouth.

“A friend? With your personality?” He teases her and she nods excitedly. He looks over his shoulder to Nora who is quietly standing there, waiting for them to finish their conversation, a serene smile on her face.

“Two, Uncle Bobby,” She pulls away and uses one hand to fold the fingers on her other and then shows the two fingers, “Lily and Benji. They said they are twins, but I don’t know if that is true because they don’t look alike and the other twins I know look alike.”

“How many sets of twins do you know, Hanes?” He asks her and she shrugs.

“Enough,” He rolls his eyes at her intellectual mannerisms. This is what happens when one dad is a politician and the other helps run a multi million company. “Lily and I are going to be best best friends, Uncle Bobby.”

“Best _best_ friends?” He clarifies, and gives her a look of shock at the thought of alone, “What about Benji?”

She waves her little hand, “He is not important, Lily is.”

She looks over her shoulder, “Who are you?”

Nora smiles at her, “Nora.”

Bobby chuckles at the way Hannah sticks her little hand out, “Hannah Kepner Queen.”

Nora takes the little hand and shakes it, “Nice to meet you.”

Hannah looks at Nora’s hand, “I like your nails. They are all different.”

Nora looks at her hand, her nails an array of colors, not even all warm or all cool. They clashed and did _not_ match color theory. But that only was noticed by Bobby since he has a degree in color theory. For Nora, she just grabbed the first ten colors out of her drawer. 

“I couldn’t pick just one,” Nora shrugs and Hannah nods at her. 

“It’s like how daddy bought all the shoes in the new Jordan collection.” 

Bobby chuckles because he is not surprised that his brother bought all the shoes. He is just like their mom when it comes to footwear. And their Uncle Tommy actually. 

“Oh, Gigi is looking for you,” Hannah turns back to Bobby, picking at the paint spot near his shoulder as she speaks. 

“Lead the way, Hanes,” He plops her down and she grabs his hand and pulls him in the direction of his mom and knows Nora is only steps behind him.

\-- -- ----

At dinner, the seating arrangement is as follows: His parents are at the head of the table, Tommy and Laurel sit to the left of his dad, Barry and Iris to the right. 

Sara and Nyssa are beside his mom on one side, and Sara’s dad who is pretty much the only grandparent any of them got to have (they called him Pa and he was the greatest grandpa you could have) was to his mom’s left.

Will and Luis are beside Pa with their six year old Scotty and Hannah sandwiched between them.

John and Lyla come next to Sara and Nyssa, following with Thea and Roy across from them. In the middle of the table had Dawn and Nora beside their parents, Dinah beside Thea and Mia and Connor beside John. 

And because his sister is sly and wants his happiness even if she doesn’t admit, calls for him to sit beside her which coincidentally is beside Nora. Pregnant Mia was so much nicer.

Dinner is loud as multiple conversations take place around them. His dad and Barry are in their own little best friend world catching up on all the time lost since they last saw each other. His mom is demanding all of Pa’s attention which she does any time she is around the man who treated her like a daughter.

Bobby casually converses with those around them and tries his hardest to make small talk with Nora like he doesn’t already know she eats her food mixed together instead of one at a time. 

There’s a lull, a quietness and then he hears his mom giggle.

“Hey!” His uncle Tommy gains everyone’s attention and his mom looks like she just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar, “No mind talk at the dinner table.”

And then, a scattering of sorry blends throughout the table. The three bonded couples all looked rather guilty. 

Tommy glares at Roy and points a finger, “Especially you, sister stealer.”

Thea rolls her eyes, tells Tommy to mind his business and dinner continues on. But he can see it in his dad’s eyes, he and his mom were still having a conversation. A secret one that no one would ever be privy to. Mia and Conner, Thea and Roy, they might be bonded, they might be able to talk to each other, but everyone at the table knew it didn’t compare to the bond his parents had. 

He looks back up at his dad, and he feels prickling in his skin when he realizes his dad is looking at him and he looks--sad, pained, guilty. 

Bobby couldn’t understand why, but he just gives his dad a tight lipped smile and goes back to eating. He even _casually_ bumps his elbow into Nora and he loves the way she turns to him and scrunches her nose at him. 

After dinner, when everyone does the part to help clean up, they scatter throughout the living room and game room equipped with two pool tables. When everyone is distracted by their own conversations, Bobby slips his phone out and texts Nora to meet him in the bathroom. He had done enough family time, enough playing the host, and now he really wanted just a few minutes with his girlfriend.

He slid out of the game room and does not mention to anyone where he is going and passes by the living room where Nora is sitting beside her dad sipping on her coffee (most likely with way too much creamer) while he and John talk. 

Bobby makes it to the bathroom with ease because well he grew up in this mansion and hops onto the counter while he waits for her. He gave her pretty detailed directions to get there and picked the bathroom closest to his room so she already had an idea of the bathroom’s whereabouts.

It takes her ten minutes and she opens the door and peaks in and sighs, “I tried four different doors to get here. I think I managed to go into a room that definitely led to a different realm.” She rambles.

He leans forward to lock the door and then he is picking her up and placing her on the counter. He trails kisses down her neck and she tilts her head for better access.

“You’re insatiable.”

He stops his trek and pulls back to see her, her legs wrapped around his waist and his fingers fidget at the hem of her skirt. 

“It’s your fault.”

She rolls her eyes, “How so?”

“You’re wearing an outfit made up of my favorite colors and a skirt to match,” He kisses her lips and continues, “And on a day when I can’t even touch you. Very unfair, Nora.”

She wraps her arms around his neck, “Whatcha gonna do about it, Queen?”

Bobby groans, slamming his lips against hers and her fingers clutch onto his hair and moaning when he pushes against him. She removes her hand and goes between them, working on his pants while he pulls her panties down her legs and tossing them to the side. He pulls the condom out of his front pocket and places it between his teeth while her hand sneaks into his pants and wraps around him.

His head falls to her shoulder and he rips the foil package open. 

“I missed you too,” She whispers and he kisses her shoulder in response.

It’s quick after that, full of groping and sliding the condom on and picking her up and pushing inside of her. They are quiet, just quick intakes of breath as he steadies her against the wall closest to the door, his mouth glued back to hers.

The pressure is building in him, and he knows it won’t take much to finish. He places his fingers on her, rubbing her slowly, and swallowing the silent moans that emit from her mouth.

And just when he is about to finish, he hears a knock on the door. They both freeze, silent and her eyes are wide staring at him wondering what they should do. He is still inside of her, his fingers frozen on her clit and then as if God has a sick sense of humor:

“Nora, you in there?” Dawn, fucking Dawn, asks and Nora’s eyes are the size of saucers.

Bobby gestures with his eyes to answer her and she shifts against him and he has to bite his lips to not groan at the sensation.

“Yup,” She is breathless and hoarse and he would chuckle at the perdicament if it didn’t mean she’d kill him.

“Oh, okay. Just hadn’t seen you and dad said you walked off.” She tells her and Bobby really wishes he could tell his ex girlfriend to fuck off so he could finish what he was doing.

Nora’s legs tighten around him and in doing so, pulls him further inside of her and he places his hand over her mouth before she moans out and alerts to her sister just exactly what she was doing in there.

“Have you seen Bobby?” Dawn asks and Bobby stills again, using every ounce of restraint not to continue thrusting into Nora.

“Nope,” Nora responds after pulling his hand from her mouth and the word is not fully out before she pushes his hand back.

He grins at her because even though this is the most awkward situation they could themselves in, he still finds joy and humor with her. Fuck, he loves her.

Bobby understands that he is a shit person to continue to have sex when your ex is just outside the room. Even worse when the person you are having sex with is said ex’s baby sister, but he couldn’t really find it in him to feel guilty. He couldn’t cheapen what he had with Nora--not anymore.

“Okay, just figured I would ask,” Dawn sighs.

“I don’t really keep tabs on your man bun ex,” Nora tries to make it sound annoyed and he pulls back to give her incredulous look. “He isn’t exactly on my radar.”

Her words cause him to pull out and push back into her, her eyes rolling back and he wants to remind her just how _on_ her radar he was. 

“True. Well, don’t get lost on your way back.”

Bobby can hear the click of Dawn’s heeled boots against hardwood, but he still doesn’t say anything though he does pick up the pace and slamming into her. Her lips are back on his, tracing his lips with her tongue and his fingers are back where they belonged.

“Not on your radar?” He whispers, one hand clutching the side of her face, her hair falling between them.

“I panicked,” She replies and he sighs when his pace becomes tortuous and with one more flick, he feels her tightening around him.

She holds on to him as she rides the orgasm and halfway through hers, he follows suit. In the moments after, when they are breathing heavily and wrapped around each other, he almost says it.

He almost whispers he loves her. But it is too soon, and he knows it will scare her away so he settles with a kiss to her forehead, hoping just maybe she’d realize it without the words. 

—— —-

Bobby finds his dad in his usual spot. There’s a perfect spot on the roof, flat enough to sit that overlooks the gardens and pool. Growing up, he always knew if his dad was nowhere to be found, most likely he was hiding on the roof. 

Bobby climbs out the window to the spot and hands his dad the opened beer bottle he snagged from the fridge on his way up. He hadn’t seen his dad in a few weeks, busy with work and trying to see Nora without tipping anyone off about it. He was starting to grow tired of hiding, of sneaking around and what he really wanted to do was walk up to Dawn and tell her truth. 

“Hey,” he sits beside his dad, knees bent just like the elder Queen and looks over the space in front of them. Parents laughing and talking, kids no longer young mingled throughout. There were so many of them, a family created of misfits. 

“Hey kid,” Oliver Queen had always had a calming effect for Bobby. He knew his dad could be ruthless, could be downright murderous when the event called for it. 

But to Bobby, he got the Oliver Queen who never lacked affection, who hugged you before you left and reminded you he loved you. His dad was quiet in his love, but made sure _always_ that his family knew just how much he cared about them. 

They sit in peaceful silence, Bobby taking the cloth headband that was wrapped around his wrist and slipping it over his head. 

“Your mom used to wear those all the time,” His dad looks over at his mom, who is looking at the different flowers with Hannah, bent to her level and getting her to most likely smell each one. 

“Always was doing some with her hair—cyan was my personal favorite.” He says like he has a secret, something between him and his mom that Bobby wouldn’t understand. 

So he just smiles. 

“So,” he dad takes a sip of his beer, “Nora, huh?”

Bobby’s eyes widen and he chokes on his own beer causing his dad to laugh at him. He sputters, he wants to deny it, but more wants to know how his dad figured it out. 

“Don’t worry, you aren’t obvious about it.” 

“Then how do you know?” He asks and his dad gives that look again, the one that looks remorseful and Bobby can’t figure out why. Why was he dad acting like he harbored some dark secret that would ruin his delicate relationship? 

He doesn’t say anything at first, takes another sip of his beer staring at the group below, his eyes drifting to each and every one of them. And then he sits his beer down, runs a hand over his aging face and sighs. 

“Your mom and I have lived hundreds of lives,” he starts. 

Bobby nods. This isn’t new information and definitely doesn’t explain how he knows about Nora unless he has some freaky super power. 

“Most of them, well almost all—we remembered when we were young over the first few months of being bonded. 

“Your mom handled better than I did. She always does. But we got used to them, we could separate that we weren’t the same Oliver and Felicity of the 40s, in England, during the plague. We could handle it.”

He looks at his mom now and Bobby wonders how many lives he and Nora had together. Was it multiple ? Was this first ? Was it always this hard ?

“And in all these lives, we never had the same families as another, we never grew up in the same town as before, we didn’t know the same people. They were completely separate.”

“Where are you going with this?” Bobby asks. 

“A few days after you were born, we went to sleep and together we remembered a new life. Fuck, it was so similar to this one even down to Thea being half Merlyn and half Dearden Queen.” He looks so much older than his fifty seven years in that moment as though all the lives compounded into one. 

“But it was also so different. I went through a lot of shit before I met your mom, William was the product of a one night stand and was raised by a single mom. His name was still William Clayton but Clayton was his last name. And I dated your Aunt Laurel, and your Aunt Sara.”

“I don’t understand,” Bobby says because he doesn’t. One, the thought alone of his dad dating either of his aunts grossed him out but why was this life so similar to the one they lived now. 

“And it is almost the same time, almost like we are just on a different Earth for this one--running parallel to the one still being lived out.”

Bobby scoffs, “multiple earths? That’s not possible.”

His dad cuts his eyes over at him, “In this life it was. I was a superhero, Barry was the fastest man alive—like faster than light itself. Your Aunt Sara traveled through time. And there was Kara who was invincible and had super strength and could fly. Your mother and I fought to save the city, to make it a better place.

“And we did. But I didn’t want to just save the city. I wanted to save everyone— the _universe._ And I died.” 

Bobby wants to believe his dad is lying, pulling his leg and any second is going to laugh and say got you. Superheroes are just in comics. But he looks so serious, so pained that Bobby can’t help but believe him. 

“Right before I left to deal with the crisis, your mother had Mia. I left before her first birthday though I did get to meet a twenty year old her.” He shrugs like it is just any other day and Bobby feels like he is falling apart with all this information.

His dad continues like he has been dying to tell someone, “Time travel. But she looked just like this Mia. And as this Mia grew up and this William grew up, they turned out to be so similar to those versions. Just without losing their dad at a young age. 

“There was a major difference though. Between this life and that one.” 

“Yeah, what?” Bobby asks but he thinks he knows. Because he died when Mia was a baby, there was no room for Bobby. 

His dad looks at him fully, “You.”

Bobby blinks, not really sure what he is supposed to say when you find out your dad was a superhero. 

“Right before Mia was born we talked about what we wanted to name the baby if it was a boy—Robert Thomas Queen after my dad who saved me and my best friend who died. 

“I think if I hadn’t gone off to save the world, we would have had you. You would have been born. And I remember a fight with a speedster coming after Barry. He held me down and told me _history books say you live to be eighty six._ I think I was supposed to, but I changed things. _”_ His dad’s voice is choked as he speaks. 

“Your mom tells me this life is redo, a thanks from the higher ups for what I did. I didn’t feel like I did anything special. But I got to relive the same life with a few adjustments and it has been peaceful, full of love and without so much pain and darkness and I get my eighty six years.” 

“And uh—Nora?” Bobby is bewildered by the onslaught of emotions emitting from his dad. 

His dad looks at Nora and Bobby’s eyes follow with ease. The way she is curled into her dad, a daddy’s girl through and through--soaking every moment she can with him.

“I never got to meet her. I was gone before she and Dawn arrived. But she came back, time traveled—a speedster like her dad. And I remember Barry calling me and asking me my advice on soul marks. Because Iris had seen Nora’s and it was muted and pale and lifeless.” The emotion is increasing, the guilt is gnawing at his dad and Bobby hates the inner turmoil this caused him. 

“It’s what happens when your soulmate dies. But she was born with it.” His dad finishes with a finality, a nail in the proverbial coffin that in his dad's mind, he took Bobby away from Nora. 

“ I thought nothing of it until this life, when I remembered days after we brought you home. I questioned if I had somehow not only stolen a life from my son, but stolen a soulmate from my best friend’s child. 

“I didn’t say anything. But when Nora was born without the mark and you sat close to her when they came to visit when she was only a few months old, the speculation grew. Your mom and I didn’t push, didn’t prod when you dated Dawn but she said you were around the company more, you have the lighting bolt on your hand, and then tonight, it finally all came together.”

Bobby shakes his head, “It isn’t your fault dad.”

His dad chuckles but it is without humor, “It is, Bobby. But you and Nora, whatever it is that is going on—you’re going to be okay. You two got a second chance, the wrongs dealt to you have been righted.”

Bobby looks back at the lawn where Nora is laughing at something Connor has said and he looks to his mom and his siblings and the whole family scattered throughout, “I think your wrongs have been righted too, dad.”

His dad puts a hand on his shoulder, “Nothing has made me happier than having you as a son.”

“Same,” Bobby pauses, “Say what you want, I think a lot of people would agree the whole reason we are here is because of what you did last life.”

His dad shakes his head and gives him a wet smile. 

“William has always been your mother, even when she was just a step mom they were so similar and Mia came out of the womb with a permanent Queen scowl. But you, my boy, have always been equal parts Smoak and Queen.” 

Bobby glows at the compliment. Nothing makes him feel better than knowing he was just like his parents. They were the epitome of greatness to him. He only wanted to be half as good as them. 

“Why’d you tell me?” He asks finally. 

His dad shrugs, “I think you needed to know that no matter what, you and Nora are destined, kid. Not even you not being born could change that.” 

It gives Bobby hope that maybe soon Nora wouldn’t be so worried about what everyone thinks. She won’t be so afraid people would try to tear them apart in favor of him and Dawn. 

He sees his mom looking up at them and he leans closer to his dad, “Can she hear you, right now?”

His dad waves it off, “Nah, she’s too far away. But I give it five seconds before she comes close enough to figure out what we are talking about.”

And sure enough, his mom drops Hannah off to Luis for bed time and she takes a few steps and he can see the exact moment she feels his dad. She stands straighter and she looks right at Bobby with such sorrow. 

“She’s going to hug the shit out of me when I go down there, isn’t she?” Bobby teases and his dad laughs. 

“She always does when she thinks about losing you. I’d go now if I were you.” 

Bobby hands his dad the empty beer bottle and takes the steps to the edge of the roof. It is close enough to the ground that he can easily hang off the side and land gracefully. He now knows why his dad does it like he was trained in parkour or some shit. 

_Fucking superhero._

He lands on the cement, and turns just as his mom steps to him. 

“He told you?” She asks, her eyes looking haunted. 

Bobby remembers now, how Mia and William used to tell them how weird his parents acted right after Bobby was born. They joked it was just emotion from the new baby. They said they couldn’t even leave the room without their parents holding them for minutes. His parents looked at them like they hadn’t seen them in weeks and his mom never put him down. 

Now he understood. 

So he hugs his mom and lets her hold on too tight for too long. “I’m so sorry,” She whispers. 

Both of his parents thought they stole a life from him. He didn’t see it that way. They did what they needed to do. He wasn’t suffering from it. 

“I’m fine, mom.” He inhales her scent, feeling a calmness that no one could measure up to. 

Except Nora, he realizes. Nora calmed him just like his parents could. He sees her still with her dad but watching him with worried eyes. 

His mom releases him, wiping at the tears, “You were always my bonus baby.”

He chuckles, feeling overwhelming emotion building inside of him that he didn’t understand. But he let it take over and let himself hug his mom again, realizing just how lucky he was for his parents. 

“Did someone die?” Mia asks as his mom embraces him. 

“Shut up,” Bobby frowns as he pulls away from his mom. “It’s been a long day.” 

“Serious question, what’s it like to be the favorite?” She asks, throwing an arm around their mom, “I genuinely want to know.”

“You know that satisfaction you feel when you get the first scoop of peanut butter?” He jokes, knowing Mia loves a fresh jar of peanut butter—smooth and untouched. 

She huffs through a smile, “if only, if only.”

He chuckles.

“Mom, I think I’m going to bed. Just wanted to say good night.” Mia hugs their mom, patting her back when mom holds a little too tight and then high fives Bobby. 

“Night, bitch.” She deadpans. 

“You’re so kind to me,” Bobby shoves his hand in his pockets wanting the night of festivities to be over as well. 

He was tired and just had a heavy conversation about him practically being erased from existence and all he really wanted was to fall asleep—preferably with Nora beside him. And that night, when he was sure of everyone sleeping, he snuck into her room and fell asleep instantly. 

* * *

_Don't tell me this is all for nothing_

On Nora’s birthday, Dawn badgers her about going out and though all she really wants is a quiet night with Bobby she has no way to explain that to her big sister without sounding pathetic. Because to Dawn, Nora would just be staying in, _by herself,_ watching horror movies and eating her weight in popcorn and ice cream and not doing those exact same things but with her soulmate beside her. 

So she sucks it up, puts on her cutest winter outfit which is equal function and fashion. Her black high rise skinny jeans that Dawn says make her ass look ‘the bomb,’ a crop top white sweater that is so risky and will end with something on it, and her nicest red converse. Dawn sizes her up and down and Nora is waiting for the critique because well--that’s what Dawn is paid for-- but Dawn shrugs about it being sufficient and drags her out of her apartment. 

Once again, she finds herself at Verdant in the VIP section because where else would they celebrate a birthday. Nora forbids the sash that Dawn wore only a month ago. Dinah is there, as per usual being Dawn’s best friend, as well as some of the friends Nora has made at work. The Queen’s weren’t invited and Nora didn’t expect them to be. Dawn was friends with them because she was dating Bobby and without Bobby, the friendships became nonexistent. 

Nora wished Bobby was there where she could at least speak to him and enjoy her birthday with him but he texted her to have fun and they could celebrate her birthday over the weekend. 

“You have to have something to drink, Nora,” Dawn’s hands clamp down on Nora’s shoulders.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Nora bites her lip, “I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.”

Dinah scoffs, “My family owns it, Nora. I think we will be okay.”

Nora sighs, and finally relents and smiles at the excitement that emits from Dawn who rushes to the bar to get her a shot. Nora watches her big sister, the way she draws attention and to the guy who she pushes away so she can get to the bar. They seem to know each other, but from Dawn’s upturned nose, she assumes they aren’t friends.

“Who is she next to?” Nora asks, realizing she doesn’t know much about Dawn’s Stay City life. 

“Elias Moretti,” Dinah tells her, “His mom runs the magazine Dawn works at and he is the epitome of trouble.”

Nora looks back at the man who is whispering something in her sister’s ear. She could see his arm covered tattoos from underneath his henley, and when he turns to face the crowd, still talking to his sister, Nora notices the pierced brow, the scruffy blonde beard and the neck tattoo. 

“Did he just do everything he could to be the opposite of his mom?” Nora asks and Dinah chuckles.

“Yup, and your sister _hates_ him,” 

That causes Nora to frown because yes Dawn West Allen could be _quantifiably bitchy_ (Dawn’s words) and yes, she gave off an icy exterior to freeze anyone that got too close, but Dawn didn’t _hate_ people.

“Hmmm,” Nora hums, continuing to watch the interaction as Dawn flips Elias a finger and stalking off back towards them.

She is halfway between them when Elias calls out to her and Dawn throws over her shoulder, “Fuck off, Lassie!”

By the time she is back to Nora with a tray of shots, her smile is back on her face and the pinkish hue of her cheeks is starting to wane.

“You okay, sissy?” Nora asks, using the affectionate name that always seems to work wonders on her big sister.

And this time is no different. Dawn tosses her dark curly mane over her shoulder and turns to Nora with a bright smile, “Of course, kiddo. Now, shot time!”

Nora doesn’t ask what the shot is and holds her breath as she throws it back and the liquid burns her throat like fire. Why anyone enjoys this she will never understand. But she lets loose, she sips on cocktails and two hard ciders and of course she has to try a Lime White Claw and by eleven thirty, she is definitely drunk.

She almost spills about Bobby three times to Dinah and almost yells to Dawn she is in love with her ex-boyfriend, but she keeps it in even if she has to bite her lips to keep them together. She doesn’t even fully remember texting Bobby multiple times asking him to come. She doesn’t remember him telling her that isn’t probably the best, but she must bug him enough because sure enough--ten minutes before midnight--he appears.

\-- -- ---

Bobby had not ignored his girlfriend’s plea but he kept responding to her with explanations why it probably wasn’t best for him to show up to her birthday party. But then Dinah texted him for back up because both West Allen sisters were absolutely plastered and Dinah knew there was something going on between him and Nora. So he throws on a jacket and slips on his vans and heads the few blocks from his apartment to Verdant. 

When he walks past the crowd, he hears a few people he went to high school with, yelling that they knew him and asking to be able to cut the line so they could get in. He ignores them all, saying hello to the bouncer and slips them a hundred dollars for having to put with this bullshit. 

He pushes his glasses up on his nose, runs a hand through his hair and looks from the bar to the VIP section to the bathroom to the dance floor. He sees neither sister nor does he see his cousin and he sighs.

Bobby is about to go find his aunt knowing she was there somewhere when he hears her--his Sweets. 

“Bobby!” He turns on his heel at her giggling slur of his name and he barely can focus on her before she is jumping in his arms. 

She’s warm under his hands and he inhales her perfect scent and relaxes under her touch. He doesn’t even think about Dawn being close by or prying eyes and instead just enjoying a few moments with her.

“Hey baby,” he sighs and she giggles again in his ear.

“It’s my birthday!” She squeals pulling back and all but jumps up and down as she reminds him, clapping her hands together.

“You are very drunk,” He laughs. He has never seen her drunk, he doesn’t think he has ever seen her even sip alcohol. But she seems to be enjoying herself though she will hate it come tomorrow morning.

Her cheeks blush and she covers her mouth and mumbles through it, “Don’t tell anyone.”

He shakes his head at her and she grins cheekily. “Bobby, I have an idea.”

“Oh?” He is trying very hard not to step closer to her, to push her hair out of her face, kiss her hello.

She nods conspiratorially. “You should get naked.”

He reddens at her suggestion and stutters a laugh. He needed to get her home before she blabbered to everyone about them. It wouldn’t bother him, but it would kill her. “Where’s your sister?”

She pouts and crosses her arms, “With Dinah somewhere.”

He stops himself from laughing at the way she was pouting like a toddler and takes a step closer to her. He pushes a hair behind her ear, forgoing trying to hide his love for his soulmate, “Let's go find them and then I’ll take you home.”

Her eyes practically sparkle as she perks back up, “And then we get naked,” She giggles going for the hem of his shirt.

He huffs a laugh and grabs her hands, “And then you go to bed.”

She glares at him, but follows him as he maneuvers through the crowd to find Dinah and Dawn. He finds Dinah at the bar, sipping on a water and looking incredibly bored. Nora plops herself up on a barstool, and Bobby can tell she is starting to come down from her drunk high. She leans her head against the bar while Bobby turns to Dinah, keeping a hand on Nora’s back.

“Where’s Dawn?” He asks and he feels Nora’s body tighten underneath his hand.

Dinah points a finger towards a back hallway. “She went that way with Elias about,” Dinah taps her phone, “Fifteen minutes ago.”

Bobby tilts his head back and sighs and Dinah waves him off. “I got her. You take Nora, I will come up with something.”

He grins and leans forward and places a loud kiss on the top of her head, “Don’t ever doubt you are my favorite.”

“Mhmm,” She hums, “The Elias thing will probably work in your advantage.”

He looks over his shoulder at the hallway where Dawn went down with Moretti. He had heard about Elias so many times over the last year that even _he_ thought she had something going on with the dude. It never fully bothered him enough to look into it which really should fucking told him something. Even now, he knows why they possibly snuck off together and all he feels is relief that she is moving on from him.

“Bobby,” Nora groans and his attention is fully on her in milliseconds. He bends down, pulls her hair off her face and she mumbles, “I’m dizzy.”

“We’re about to go home, Sweets.” He promises and she reaches with her arm still tucked under her head for his palm and rubs his mark.

“I don’t want to be drunk anymore,” She whines.

“I know, baby,” he chuckles, turning back to Dinah.

“Shit, I thought you were just fucking,” Dinah’s eyes are wide, staring at his hand, “You’re soulmates with baby West Allen?”

Nora props herself up on a hand clumsily, “Yup.”

“Damn, Norry, didn’t know you had it in ya,” Dinah teases and Bobby glowers.

“That’s me. I’m a homewrecker, Dinny,” She scrunches up her nose and Bobby hates how she beats herself up. It was never going to work out between him and Dawn anyway, “I don’t like Dinny. That doesn’t work well.”

Dinah leans forward, past Bobby and rests a comforting hand on Nora’s. “You’re definitely not a homewrecker.”

Nora scoffs drunkenly and her eyes are droopy and Bobby really wants to take her home and tuck her into bed before she beats herself up even more, “When this falls out, I will be sure everyone knows Dinah Merlyn said so.”

“Alright, time to go,” Bobby cuts the conversation off knowing if it continues, it will end with him angry and Nora sad and he isn’t looking to end her birthday that way.

He wraps an arm around Nora’s waist and pulls her off the stool and pauses to let her get a handle of herself as she steadies her feet on the floor. He’s about to pull her away, away from the conversation but she tilts back towards Dinah.

“But they’ll all know I’m just the soulmate that took him away from the girl he loves,” She slurs, and Dinah eyes cut to him, pity glazing over grey eyes.

Bobby’s chest tightens at her words and his hands falter on her because of how sad she is. His beautiful soulmate, his imperfect perfect girlfriend who still believes she is just the footnote in the Dawn and Bobby saga, never realizing Dawn was just a quick paragraph compared to the epic that is them.

He doesn’t say anything to his cousin, just shakes his head at her and guides Nora out the club door and realizing how stupid he was to walk here instead of driving. Once they hit the sidewalk, the city still loud around them, he crooks an arm over he knees and carries her bridal style. 

“You don’t have to carry me,” She grumbles sleepily.

“Birthday girl shouldn’t be walking home,” He shrugs as best he can. 

She snuggles into his chest, mumbles something about it being after midnight, but he ignores her and he ignores the sinking feeling in his chest that he was going to lose her. He focuses on the feeling of her weight in his arms, the way her cotton sweater rubs against his hands, how she picks at a loose thread on his shirt, how her red converse match perfectly with her lips. 

It takes no more than twenty minutes to get back to his apartment complex and he nods towards the door man and doesn’t ask why he has to stand there in the middle of the night. He gets to his place, manages to unlock his door without putting her down and carries her up to his bed.

Bobby sits her on the edge of his bed, on her side of course , and she barely is able to keep herself upright. He pulls his own shirt over his head before moving to her own. 

“Lift your arms, baby,” He murmurs and she does, her eyes never opening. 

He tosses her sweater towards the hamper near his closet, unhooks her bra because she can’t sleep with it in on, tossing it away from them and slips his shirt back over her. She grins at wearing his clothes and that almost takes away some of the ache in his heart when she pulls the neck of the shirt up to smell it. 

He continues to undress her, unlacing her shoes, unbuttoning her pants and soon she is sitting on the edge in just his shirt and panties. He pulls his comforter down, folds her legs under the sheets and tucks her in. She mumbles incoherently, snuggling into the pillow and Bobby leaves her to grab her a bucket and a glass of water. He leaves the light on to the bathroom and changes his jeans for a pair of sweatpants and is about to crawl in beside her when she mumbles his name.

He squats in front of her, pushing her hair off her face and she leans into the touch, “What’s up?”

“I’m sorry,” She whispers and he raises a brow that she can’t see.

“Everyone gets drunk,” He shrugs, but he knows that isn’t what she is talking about. But he doesn’t want to hear her apologies. She had nothing to apologize for.

She shakes her head, “I didn’t mean to take you away from her.”

His eyes actually sting and he rubs a hand over his mouth because he doesn’t know what to say. She is drunk, about to pass out and nothing he will say right now is going to change anything. Not tonight. 

“You didn’t,” He says earnestly.

She sighs, and wipes at her nose and even now, he can’t help but think how absolutely adorable she could be. 

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” She pauses for a few seconds and Bobby thinks she has fallen asleep but then she starts speaking again, “I always come second to Dawn.”

She does fall asleep then, leaving Bobby to stare at her and her pained face even asleep. He doesn’t know what caused this, only an hour ago when he first found her, she was happy and wanted him to take her home and have his way with her. He doesn't understand what brought this on and he selfishly hopes she doesn’t remember when she wakes up in the morning.

\-- --- --- 

The morning after her birthday, she woke up with a pounding headache, a dry mouth and a heavy heart. Bobby was already up, drinking his coffee and working away in his sketchbook on his sofa. She barely could look at him and so she gave an excuse about needing to get home and kissed him chastely and ran out the door before he could pull her back in. 

She doesn’t ignore him the days following her birthday. She texts him back when he reaches out, she answers his calls, but she gives an excuse for why she couldn’t see him. She was embarrassed and even worse, she felt her heart starting to splinter. Because being drunk and hearing him ask where Dawn was over and over caused something to break inside of her. It was only a matter of time before he was done with her, and slinked back to where he was supposed to be. 

She tries her hardest, she really does, to put it behind her. She tries to rationalize Bobby Queen didn’t do something he didn’t want to do. But then she would think about his family, their happiness of soulmates and then she is right back where she started--fearing he only wanted her, cared about her out of obligation. 

And then she had lunch with Dawn and everything came crashing down around her. They sat in Dawn’s office, and she poked at her salad as Dawn went on and on about something. Nora couldn’t even focus long enough to catch the subject. 

Dawn pauses whatever she was saying and Nora looks up to see Dawn watching out through her office. Nora looks over her shoulder to see Elias strutting through the office in joggers and an oversized crew neck sweatshirt that had a hole in it, “God, his existence is a disgrace to fashion.”

Nora turns back to Dawn and decides to ruin her heart and her relationship, “I thought you snuck off with him on my birthday.”

Dawn's eyes narrow and her lips flatten into a straight line. She pushes her beautiful and Nora means _beautiful_ naturally curly hair off her shoulder, “To yell at him for being such a nuisance.”

“Oh,” Nora deflates. She had hoped maybe Dawn liked Elias, maybe even wanted to be with him. Pathetically, she hoped if Dawn wasn’t single then maybe she and Bobby had a chance. “I thought you two--”

“Puh-lease,” Dawn shakes her head and takes a sip of her early grey, “Moretti and I are nothing but enemies. Besides, it’s been a few months since Bobby decided to give the whole soulmate thing a try. I imagine it’s only a matter of time.”

Nora’s heart goes from being splintered to torn in half. She begs herself not to cry at the thought of Bobby going back to Dawn. She begs herself not to show the horrified expression at the thought of alone. She begs herself to remember that if she had been watching where she was going, Dawn and Bobby would still be together. Without her mark, she never would have been anything more than just a _sister-in-law._

“You think?” She asks and keeps the lump out of her throat and prays, _prays,_ Dawn doesn’t notice.

Dawn shrugs, “Look, I get it. Soulmates should be explored but he and I know he is just making sure. We practically said that when we took the break.”

Nora feels the air in her lungs seize and barely can get it out and maybe that’s why she sounds so strangled when she nods through of course.

Because of course it wasn’t a break _up,_ it was a _break._ A trial period for him to get it out of his system, get _her_ out of her system. She was _so_ stupid. How could she ever believe Dawn was out of the picture. Nora wouldn't even choose herself if given the option between her and her sister. Why would Bobby be any different?

She pretends to get a text from William about needing her back at the office and then she gets out of the office as quick as she can, trying her best to hold her tears at bay until she is in the elevator. 

She doesn’t go to the office but instead straight to Bobby’s gallery. She had only been once in the last few months and he was adamant about her not going into the studio area. Now she wondered if he had paintings of Dawn. 

He is taking down a piece when she steps in and when he looks at her, the worry and pain in his eyes tells her he knew this was coming.

Maybe that’s why he is instantly at her and is almost panicked as he speaks holding her face between his palms, “Nora, whatever you are about to--”

“I don’t want to do this anymore,” She interrupts and she watches the way he closes his eyes in defeat but he doesn’t drop his hands, he keeps them right where they were. Where she wished they belonged.

“No,” He responds.

“We knew it was going to happen and now you can go about your life without a guilty conscience,” She is trying to sound stern, strong and not like she is crying on the inside and her heart isn’t begging her brain to stop. Like her soul isn’t crying out in agony as she ruined them.

This was for the best. He would only hurt her anyway.

“I don’t want that,” He sounds hurt and she tells herself, begs herself not to fall into him. It is his ego hurt, it isn’t his heart. Because he told Dawn he just needed to make sure. “I don’t want that because it is supposed to be me and you. I don’t want that.”

“I do,” She takes his hands and puts them back at his sides, “I don’t want to be with you.”

“Nora,” His voice falters and he reaches for her again, but she steps back away from him and puts a hand up.

“Please just leave me alone, Bobby,” She begs him and he drops his head and she decides that is the best time to rush out, to leave him.

He doesn’t follow her and she can’t even be surprised.

\--- --- -- 

Bobby realizes in the aftermath of Nora leaving him that he had never experienced a broken heart. With girls in the past, it was a bruised ego, never a battered heart. He never really experienced pain after the first few hours after breaking things off. Even with Dawn, a girl he thought he could possibly see a future with, he never even concerned himself again after they were done.

But with Nora, holy fuck he thinks he would rather die than continue on with this bullshit. He barely can sleep, he has no appetite, and he constantly feels this rush of overwhelming pain in his chest whenever he thinks about her. 

And he is angry, really fucking angry in a way he had never experienced before. He didn’t have the Queen temperament and was all Smoak in that department. Someone could probably pour a hot pitcher of coffee in his lap and Bobby would wave it off like it was his fault.

But right now, in the past week of his life, he was moody and bitter and could barely keep his emotions in check, wanting everyone around him to be as miserable as he was. Maybe that’s what caused the hot white rage when Dawn came to see him at his studio, something she did occasionally when she was in the area and thankfully for her, Dinah is with her. 

They weren’t even fully in the gallery before he told Dawn to fuck off. She looked bewildered and hurt but he didn’t care. He _didn’t_ because this was her fault. He lost the girl he loves because of her even if she didn’t know. She stands there, her mouth hanging open and Dinah just pulls at her arm.

“Today is not a good day,” Dinah glares at Bobby as she says it but he doesn’t care.

Because right now, in this moment, every ounce of anger he held was for Dawn and all he wanted was to tell her he hated her. He almost breaks, asks her what the fuck she said to Nora to make her leave him, but he doesn’t. Because all that would do would make things harder for Nora and even beyond pissed at her, he couldn’t do it.

Dawn looks like she is about to retaliate, but Dinah ushers her out the door and then they are gone and Bobby is alone once again. 

Bobby really can’t even take not seeing her so a week and a half after she dumped him, he--being pathetic--shows up at Queen Global to “see his mom.” She had been spending more time at the company, only at the hospital once a week. It gave the perfect excuse for Bobby to plop down on the sofa in her office that gives a perfect view of the floor. He watches, moping being the better word, his eyes constantly searching for her, to see if she was as miserable as he was. 

His mom is at her computer, her fingers going at her usual impressive speed and she is letting him pout like a child as he looks for his ex. 

“She isn’t here, Bobby,” His mom says and he sighs. 

Well, fuck.

He stands up and drops down into the chair across from her, “I wasn’t looking for her.”

His mom stops typing, shuts her laptop and smiles at him, “Of course you weren’t, sweetie.”

Bobby stares at his mom hoping she could give him the answers or maybe just make him feel better. He just needed anything other than this bone crushing pain every time he breathed. 

“I don’t know Barry as well as I did in the life before this one,” She sounds regretful as she says it and honestly, he didn’t even know her and Barry were close in _any_ life.

“He and I were friends long before he and Oliver were,” She sighs, “We even kissed once.”

“Gross,” he mutters and she giggles.

“Nora, this Nora is just like him. Her love for science, her spasticity, her awkwardness, her unwavering loyalty--but the way she protects her heart, that is all Iris West.”

Bobby sits up in the chair and nods wanting more. He wants to hear more about Nora’s family even if it wasn’t this version of them. 

“Barry was always sure. They were best friends and found out they were soulmates as kids, but Iris pushed and pushed. Barry knew even if there was no mark that Iris was it for him. Iris, on the other hand, refused to let him give up his chances at falling in love because of what he _thought_ he was supposed to do.” She rolls her eyes and Bobby knows she is thinking about his dad and his worry that she is always loving him solely because of their marks.

She waves her hand, like it doesn’t matter and she purses her lips, “Can I give you some advice?”

He nods, because really he needed anything.

“Don’t give her that space she thinks she needs,” She leans over the desk and makes a motion for his hand. He puts his hand on the desk, his palm up and his mark on display. “Don’t use this as being enough about how you feel. She already has this.”

She points at his heart, “She needs to know she has that.”

He drops his chin to his chest and runs his hands through his hair, “I can’t lose her mom.”

She shrugs, “So don’t.”

\-- --- --- -- 

Nora skipped work with the excuse of a stomach bug when in reality, she just couldn’t handle another day being in the Queen skyscraper. She was so incredibly heartbroken and she didn’t want to chance seeing Bobby who is most likely fairing much better than she is.

She really shouldn’t be surprised it got back to Dawn--probably Dinah-- and she shows up on her doorstep with potato soup and tea and a smile.

“Hey,” Dawn steps in, kisses Nora’s temple and continues in to take over the place like she usually does.

“What are you doing here?” Nora asks, closing the door.

Dawn is already in her kitchen, grabbing a bowl and pouring her soup into it, “William texted me that you stayed home sick.”

William? Well, that was unexpected.

“I’m okay. You didn’t have to come,” Nora pulls her cardigan tighter around her.

She was in between a rock and a hard place, because all she really wanted was her sister to give her one of her amazing, oxytocin releasing hugs and for her to inhale her scent so similar to their mom. But the whole reason she is broken, falling apart and unable to put herself back together is because of Dawn.

It isn’t Dawn’s fault, though.

“You don’t feel good, silly. Of course I did,” Dawn tsks her like a child for saying something so ridiculous and ushers her to the couch. “Let sissy take care of you.”

Nora sighs, knowing it is no use and craving the company of her big sister. Dawn was an enigma. She was so hard, practically stone, cold to the touch, but to Nora and Nora only, she was as cuddly as a teddy bear. Nora always wished Dawn would let others see that part of her, the piece that held Nora’s hand when she got her ears pierced and cried more than she did when Nora broke her arm when she was six. 

Dawn brings her the soup and Nora plays the part of not feeling good. She lets Dawn put on her favorite movie, _Penelope_ , and she lets her make her a cup of lemon tea with honey. 

“Where’s your blanket?” Dawn asks looking around Nora’s cramped living room. 

Nora knew which one she meant. It was a chunky yarn woven blanket--it was red and warm and cuddly. Their grandmother made them each one when Nora was twelve. Each West Allen sister brought it with them to Star City and it was always a staple in their living room. Dawn’s was brown--her favorite color even if she never mentioned it to anyone because what fashion journalist chose _brown_ as her favorite color. 

“Oh, I think it is in my room,” Nora looks around and Dawn is already heading back to find it.

Nora snuggles into the couch, trying to be comfy and not make a mess of her soup. She is trying to stay up beat, and just ‘sick’ and not broken, but then she catches a whiff of Bobby’s scent on her sofa and the tears begin to accumulate again. She can’t help feeling sad, the frown permanently set on her lips. She looks around and finds him everywhere. The coasters he bought because he was tired of coffee rings on her table, the messed up blinds from where he would push them away to put his hand against the window to see what it felt like outside. She was sure his smudged hand was still there.

She could feel him everywhere and everything made her think of him and she doesn’t even realize Dawn is back, covering her with the blanket. 

“You okay?” Dawn asks, her tone just as sad as Nora feels. 

Nora pulls out of her trance to find Dawn sitting on the table and a hand resting on Nora’s leg. Her eyes are soft, and staring at her with worry and something else but Nora doesn’t know what.

“I just don’t feel good,” Nora lies and Dawn’s mouth tilts up, not a smile, more of a grimace.

“You seem really sad,” Dawn is prodding, something she is very good at, but Nora just lifts a shoulder.

“Just sick.”

Dawn stays a little longer, letting Nora curl into her and doesn’t say anything when Nora’s sobs at the ending of the movie. She just runs a hand through Nora’s hair and Nora accepts the comfort, the warmth and falls asleep with the safety of her big sister. 

Because if she couldn’t have Bobby, at least she could have Dawn.

\-- --- -- -- 

Bobby is in his studio, trying to finish his last few pieces for the show when he hears the click of heels and reels his disappointment in when he knows it isn’t her. He drops his paintbrush, looking over his shoulder and seeing a white napkin come around the sheet and shakes.

“I come in peace,” he hears Dawn’s voice and he does let himself smile slightly at her stupid gesture.

“Come in,” He responds, spinning to face her.

She pokes her head first and then steps in fully, “You’re not gonna throw anything at me, right?”

He shakes his head, only slightly embarrassed for telling her to fuck off.

“What are you doing here?” He asks, pushing the bandana holding his hair back further on his head.

She shrugs, looking around his studio with no real destination. She looks at him, she frowns and then her eyes drift to his hand and she takes in a deep breath, “There will be a day, in the very distant future, where I will ask the details. Long after I am married and secure and in love I will let you tell me how you managed to be my baby sister’s soulmate.”

His eyes widen, his mouth drops open and she continues to walk around the studio.

“But today,” She looks at him and he sees remorse and guilt and pity, “Today, I am just going to ask how you can be so stupid to let her go?”

He looks away from her, out the window that gave the perfect natural lighting for painting and he doesn’t know what to say.

“I work my ass off to deserve the pedestal she put me on, you know?” She tells him with simmering anger, “Nora thinks I am the pinnacle and I never understood why she didn’t realize how I was just trying to measure up to her.”

Bobby wrings his hands and goes to agree with her but stops because he doesn’t want to hurt Dawn anymore than he already has.

“I am not surprised it took you no time at all to see what I see,” She flips through a sketchbook of his and he can’t even tell her not to. She would do what Dawn wants to do.

“How did you find out?” He asks. Her hand is paused on a page, her fingers moving up and down the page, lost in a trance.

She pops her head back up, “Your shirt was on her bed--your favorite white shirt with paint splatter. Was pretty easy to put it all together after that. Plus, I am pretty sure she sleeps in it.”

He nods, not really needing any more explanation. She’s quiet, fingers on her workbench and she pushes a lock of hair behind her ear. 

“How long?” She asks him, and he doesn’t want to give her the truth. To tell her since the same hour he broke up with her. He doesn’t want to tell her that it would have been sooner if Nora wasn’t so fucking good.

He just stares at her, with heavy guilty eyes and she nods. 

“This is all my fault, you know?” Dawn bites her lip, “If I had known, I wouldn’t--”

“Did you say something to her?” He accuses, but not as angry as he was before. He figured it was Dawn, who just didn’t know, and made an offhand comment.

She nods sadly, “I just said you were just getting it out of your system, just making sure.”

He laughs without any humor and glares at his ceiling, “Damn it, Dawn.”

“I didn’t know!” She shouts.

His anger evaporates because he knows Dawn isn’t a villain, she is the victim in this fairy tale. 

“I love her, Dawn.”

She stands straight like a robot. Her mouth closes, her hands drop to her sides and her eyes twitch, “You couldn’t say that about me after almost a year.”

He drops his face into his hands.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” He pleads with her in his tone. She needs to know that this was never his plan. 

But Nora couldn’t be ignored. He thinks it was only a matter of time before his eyes could no longer focus on the older West Allen sister.

She nods with a sniffle, “It wouldn’t have worked out between us anyway.”

He chuckles, “Because your sister is my soulmate and you like Elias Moretti?”

Dawn’s head shoots up with confused eyes, “I don’t.”

He huffs, “Yeah, you do. Do you really not know?” 

Her eyebrows furrow, her nose scrunches and she looks so much like Nora that it makes his chest ache, “He’s repulsive.”

“Whatever you say,” He relents.

“It doesn’t matter because I am not being with anyone until I see a mark that matches mine.” She is trying to sound unaffected, but he knows her too well. 

“I never meant my love for her to hurt you,” He says honestly.

“Unfortunately for my heart, that sentiment doesn't matter,” She whispers.

They are quiet, sitting in their heartbreak and she looks behind him at the painting he is working on and she gasps, “Is that?”

He just nods.

“It is beautiful, Bobby,” She grins at it even if it is marred with sadness.

He looks back at his painting, the charcoal outline of Nora sitting on the edge of his tub, her head turned to give her profile. The only color is the dripping red and gold paint on her back. 

“You need to fix this, Bobby.” She tells him with determination.

“She broke up with me, Dawn. I am not going to force her.” He stares at his mark and the way in the past week, it had turned raw and grey and angry. 

“The girl I was with last night is broken into a million little pieces. You have to fix it, you have to make her better,” Dawn’s voice is so determined and sure. She is always so sure of everything. “She loves you, Bobby.”

“It doesn’t matter,” She opens her mouth to snap back, to tell him how much more worth Nora is but he holds a hand up, “Until she knows you are okay, she will never be with me, Dawn. She loves you _more._ ”

Dawn frowns, bites her lip and then nods, “Then I will talk to her.”

“Dawn--”

“She has suffered enough,” Dawn tells him, signalling this conversation is over. 

She leaves him, telling him that she was going to do her part to fix the pieces she broke. He focuses back on his work, and starts moving his art into the gallery to hang for the show that is tomorrow. It’s as he is moving back and forth he passes the sketchbook Dawn had been looking at it. He pauses, still holding the canvas and he looks at the page she stopped on. 

It was one of Nora, just a pencil drawing of her from the night of Dawn’s birthday party. There was nothing spectacular about it. Just Nora sitting at a bar, sipping on her water but the outfit she is wearing is what gives it away. Because Dawn bought her that outfit, pieced it together and it was Nora’s favorite. 

He shakes his head of the guilt gnawing at him and continues working, putting up the different paintings of Nora’s mark. She was the inspiration he needed for his show, her in different settings, all outlines of her profile, of her back and the only color--as always--red and gold.

There is one of the night after they first slept together when she is asleep.

One of them in the woods.

And so many simple moments that stuck and seared into his brain until he put it to paper. He named the show _Marked with Chaos and Art_ and all the pieces, including the ones from other artists, were of soulmarks. _._

When the last painting is up, he hears the door open and he turns and he feels deja vu as she steps in. he doesn’t let himself be hopeful, he doesn't let himself assume she is hear to forgive him for every stupid thing he has done.

She goes to speak but her gaze falls on the painting, there were five all together done by him and she gasps as she looks around. Oh fuck, he hopes he doesn’t look creepy. Her cheeks are dusted with a blush and he lets himself just stare at her as she moves from painting to painting.

“I didn’t know you paid this much attention to me,” She whispers as she comes to stand in front of him, but still too far away.

He leans against a counter in the middle for when he has sculptures, “Don’t be stupid.”

She bites her lip, her eyes become full of cogs turning, “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” He asks with a little bite. If she says some stupid remark about Dawn, he might just take scissors to his canvases.

She licks her lips.

He crosses his arms.

“I have been an idiot, I know.” Her voice is thick with emotion and he loosens the reign on his hope--just a little bit.

She breathes noisily and almost whimpers, her hands wringing in front of her, “I thought we had an expiration date and I pushed you away to save my heart but it was too late, Bobby. Because I love you, I do.”

“You left me, Nora.” He reminds her, even if he was already halfway to forgiving her for walking out and forgiving himself for not chasing after her.

She nods, “I thought you were only with me because of the mark because of your parents.” He knew this, she had implied it multiple times.

“And I thought you still wanted to be with Dawn and when she mentioned it to me, I thought you still loved her.” She does whimper then like the words physically hurt her to say.

He is already to her then, hating he let her hurt this long. He shushes her soothingly, running his hands over her hair and cupping her face, pulling her to look at him. Her tear filled eyes break him. He should have told her sooner. He should have told her everything.

“Nora,” he sighs to stop her from breaking and he brings her face to his, kissing her. She cries against his mouth and he wants to throw himself into his kiln for doing this to her.

“I love _you,_ ” He confesses and she nods against him. 

“I love you too,” He smiles at her words and kisses her again and this time it feels so much more certain. 

He grabs her hand and puts it against his chest, “This was always yours, Sweets. I never stood a chance.”

Nora's eyes are full of love and he thinks within time, she might just believe how wonderful and precious she was to him. 


End file.
